The Other Pendragon Legends: The Fake Sorcerers 5
by noreallyidontcare
Summary: A series of humorous/angsty/romantic long or short Merlin tales, each different! This chap: Part 5 - After the knights have failed to scare Merlin with their horrifyingly fake magician powers, they turn instead to a new scare target- Morgause. But this time, they're aided in their quest by a certain someone's magic... UPDATED AFTER A YEAR DON'T HURT ME PLEASE
1. Chapter 1: Bambi Visits Arthur

**This fic of light humor occurred to me while watching a certain Disney movie (I won't give it away yet, so see the bottom if you want to know!) and I just thought this joke would definitely be something Merlin would do. I hope that you like it, it's my first so please R&R!**

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><p><strong>~An Enchanted Way to Clean Arthur's Room~<strong>

He really was going to kill that idiot this time.

Honestly, the boy really did go out of his way just to annoy Arthur, even after the newly-coronated King promoted him from his servant status to Court Sorcerer. Arthur would have thought that the position would have made Merlin a bit more serious about things; however the magic-user was just as flippant about court civility as ever. True, deep down Arthur had rather hoped that his friend's (Arthur tripped over the word, he still wasn't very good with all that emotional stuff) attitude about him and Camelot would never change, for that is why he liked Merlin so much, and yet it wouldn't hurt for the sorcerer to show a bit of propriety.

Propriety meaning not unleashing a parade of forest creatures into his chambers without notice.  
>For there <em>was <em>quite a show of creatures and beasts: birds, rabbits, deer, rats, frogs, you name it; all of different colors, shapes, and sizes bustling about his room as if they had meant to be there all along, and not out in the forest eating grass or whatever it is these animals do.

And Arthur wouldn't have pegged Merlin as the perpetrator of this mischief if it hadn't been for one thing: they were all cleaning.

Skunks sweeping the floor of dust with their tails, a couple of spotted deer holding cloth in their mouths and polishing his armor while others took to ironing his shirts, birds flittering in and about dusting the tops of the room's furniture with their feathered wings, mice and rats filing Arthur's books and papers on his desk in their proper places - upon seeing this scene Arthur could not speak from shock and exasperation.

Arthur was brought out of his appalled state by a raucous bout of laughter that erupted just outside his door. Turning on his heel, the young king saw Gwaine rolling on the hallway floor, guffawing and pounding his fist on the ground. Arthur felt his face turn red as the scruffy knight looked up at him in tears of merriment.

"Well now… aha… Now we have all the proof we need to see I was right in calling you _princess_, don't we?" Gwaine choked out between laughter, still on the ground.

"Whoops sorry," he continued, still chuckling uncontrollably, "I suppose it should be _Queen _Arthur now?"

If Arthur's face was red before, it was nothing compared to the rising sun that it was now. Watching _sir _Gwaine continue to roll around on the ground in merriment, Arthur stomped out of his room, gathered all the air his lung can hold and then shouted with all the force he could muster-

"**MERLIN! COME HERE NOW!**"

In no time at all, the sorcerer arrived at the scene with an innocent yet obviously carefully composed smile plastered to his face. Arthur's eyes narrowed as he saw the lanky young man jog up the hallway; he came too fast to have been doing anything else (whatever else the magician did nowadays) than watching the prince's reaction to finding his room being turned into a wildlife cleaning festival.  
>"Yes, what is it <em>sire<em>?" Merlin quipped, his face betraying the huge grin threatening to break out on his face. Arthur took note of the renewed use of "sire" instead of his usual name.

"There seems to be an entire platoon of animals in my room. Have you any idea how they could have gotten there, Merlin?" Arthur said through clenched teeth.

Merlin's eyes widened in mock confusion as he shook his head. Arthur's eyes narrowed and his fingers twitched by his sides. Merlin noticed this but also saw that there was nothing around Arthur that he could throw at the Warlock, so he bit his lip and waited for Arthur to speak hoping that his muffled snorting wouldn't give him away.

"Well, _Merlin_, I believe that they have broken into my room with the help of _magic._ Probably magic of the most _sinister kind_. I believe that protecting me from that sort of thing is _your_ department, _Court Sorcerer?_" Arthur said slowly, watching Merlin's eyes roll.

"What exactly are you rolling your eyes for? This could be a breach in your oh-so-magically-amazing defenses you pride yourself on. How could you let this happen?" Arthur said mockingly, as mice raced around his heels with boots to be cleaned.

"Well first, that you called me a sorcerer, I told you the title should be Court Warlock since I'm not actu-" Merlin started to say, as Arthur interrupted him with "Yes, as if I haven't heard this argument a million times. Stop trying to change the subject; I'm eager to know how these creatures got into my room, and why _they_ are cleaning it instead of _you_."

Merlin couldn't help but roll his eyes again. Yes, Arthur had offered Merlin a break from his servant duties while he was a high-ranking officer of Arthur's court, and yet Merlin had insisted on continuing to clean his room because he just couldn't stand putting another poor soul in his old position, as the job had enough stress to work anyone to an early grave. Merlin also knew that with the renewed use of magic in Camelot that this job would be much easier than before; so much easier, in fact, that Merlin could usually just cast a quick spell or two on the place and then go about his daily business as usual, no manual labor required.

Of course, Arthur wasn't exactly pleased when he walked into his room and all his objects were either floating or cleaning themselves. Still, he didn't need to throw so many hard objects at Merlin; the warlock quite liked not having bruises all over his back.

"Well, _sire_," Merlin continued, as Gwaine kept chuckling heartily and a couple of birds flittered around Arthur's head, "I'd say that if a certain loud-mouthed prat of a royal hadn't complained about how his room was being cleaned, and instead insisted that something _live_ do it, then the forest wouldn't have granted his wish and sent all its lovely helpers to clean his room in the place of the poor sod who would normally have to work through the stench."

At this, Gwaine let out another hearty chortle and began to start singing "Delightful Springtime Cleaning" in a horrible off-key falsetto. The song only grew in volume as the various birds in Arthur's room began chirping along with him. Merlin finally lost it at that, and began laughing so hard he had to clutch his sides, Gwaine joining him in renewed bouts of laughter.

Arthur was about to explode when a couple of finches stated tugging at the tunic he was wearing, trying to pull it over his head. The birds probably would have been able to manage the feat had the young royal not flailed his arms in a mad dance to try to gain back control of his shirt. Upon seeing this, the two idiots simply howled with laughter even harder than before, unable to move from mirth. The two other robins and one bluejay that had started to bring over his white tunic (rid of the stains by the rabbits that cleaned it) paused in midair while the finches continued to struggle with the royal. Unable to see with the shirt over his eyes, Arthur desperately tried to run away only to trip over two badgers trying to clean the floor. He fell to the floor with a crash, and Merlin looked up briefly, still chuckling but a bit more sober, to make sure Arthur was okay.

Merlin almost regretted this at once, for Arthur stood up, fury in every line in his face, glaring straight at the warlock. Merlin, watching the king's hands ball up into fists, backed up a little bit and gulped. He still didn't regret the joke, Arthur _did_ deserve it for being a prat (or, as Merlin would say, _more_ of a prat,) but he still was a bit wary of what Arthur might do or throw at him. True, he could probably now handle the surly royal with magic, but Arthur just started getting used to seeing the servant's (or, as Arthur would correct himself, the _wizard's_) eyes glow gold and objects float/disappear/go up in flames and would probably become even angrier at Merlin for using magic against him. Still, the painful arm locks followed by Arthur furiously knuckling Merlin's head did not appeal at all to the warlock.

Then suddenly, Arthur had an idea. A truly wicked grin began to spread along Arthur's face as this idea grew into fruition. A new calm spread over the royal as he leered, preparing for his revenge. Merlin, who's had his fair share of sinister smirking (or an overdose of it, in fact; he still had to deal with the Sinister Smirking Sisters, a name given to them by the Warlock who had to deal with all their increasingly ridiculous plans) instinctively tensed into defense mode; his mind reeling with counters and plans for whatever malevolence was about to come from the twisted grin. Meanwhile, the various wildlife continued on their boisterous cleaning spree, disregarding the young king completely.

"Now that I think about it, this is truly a great thing you have done for me, _Mer_lin!" Arthur spoke in an airy tone, still holding that smirk.

Merlin, nonplussed but still guarded said "Well, I'm glad you appreciate this gift of yours, sire.."

"Yes, it was truly the best thing you could have gotten me with all the recent stress of being the new king," Arthur started, still in that dangerously light voice, "it's a brilliant idea. Really, I should've thought of it before, since I can't get out much anymore and I've missed the sport so much."  
>"Thought of what, sire?" asked Merlin nervously.<p>

Arthur paused a bit with that same wicked smile and then spoke slowly:

"Indoor _hunting_, Merlin!" He then took a crossbow hanging nearby on his wall, and loaded a bolt into it.

It was as if the room froze. Every single breathing creature in the room now looked up wide-eyed at Arthur, dropping whatever they were doing at the time. The animals just stood tensed, ears up and tails stiff, watching the predator's white toothy smile gleaming down on them. Merlin had a similar stunned expression on his face, smile evaporating and his face growing paler by the second. Then after what seemed like an eternity, something snapped and each animal made a frantic dash for the door - screeching, hissing, yowling, clawing their way past the others - as they tried to get to safety past the bloodthirsty human that made their survival instincts scream.

Merlin had the sense to lunge out of the way of the stampede just in time but unfortunately landed on a bemused Gwaine, the lanky warlock accidentally elbowing the gruffy knight in the process and giving Gwaine a splendid bruise. Cursing, the knight got up and started dusting himself off, Merlin rising up from the ground slowly and still staring at Arthur.

Staring at Arthur, because Arthur was still holding that crossbow. And the bolt looked very sharp.

As the creature's screeches and stomping noise echoed from the hall they ran to, Merlin and Gwaine started to wonder if they should look for an escape as well. Arthur answered this for them with that same sinister grin.

"It seems your survival instincts are not up to scratch with the animals'," Arthur spoke, relishing the look of confusion on the two men's faces, "they understand what a 'head start' is and how beneficial it is to take it."

Then Arthur grinned at both his idiot warlock and rowdy knight, and the two exchanged a mixed look of fear, mirth, and hysteria. Merlin mumbled "prat" and Gwaine smiled at Arthur while making a rather rude gesture.

The king continued to smile at both his closest friends, and then began to count down from ten.

Merlin and Gwaine ran like hell was on their heels.

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><p><strong>Heh, so if you've already guessed, the movie that inspired this was Bambi, Snow White, Cinderella, and basically every princess movie ever. Which, apparently, doesn't fit Arthur so well! (Or does it? XD)<strong>

**If you liked it, please let me know because depending on how you do I will continue writing short little tales like this to help with that Merlin Fanfiction withdrawal! I didn't want to start out with drabbles because many people are already doing them and I think people would rather have somewhat longer stories (not that I don't love the drabbles) but I'll start out with shorter stories to get more experience writing. **

**So, question is folks, should I keep writing little fics? Or maybe a big fic? :D Thank you SO much for reading!  
><strong>


	2. Chapter 2: The Fiery Dance

**Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin any more than I do Mars. (Though I'd like to own both!)**

**Thank you for all the positive replies to my first story, I'm glad you all liked it so! I hope to keep writing some stories in this series (short or long) and perhaps write a few longer series as well. This one will be a bit more serious than the last, so I hope you like it!**

**A quick thank you to the favorites, alerts and reviews I received: BookwormExtraordinary, Defyinglogic13, lilyflower1345, writing-at-random, momo9momo, , merlingirl, xXMistressMadHatterXx, Ph0enix-Flyer, jadeb212, Ritakna, and KWink.**

**Thank you all so very much, I hope you enjoy the story!**

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><p><strong>~The Dance of the Witch and the Warlock~<strong>

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"You, of all people want lead me in a dance? You think _you _can do any better than the others, _servant_?" Morgana asked incredulously, smirking at her soon-to-be victim.

Merlin, still slightly inebriated, just gave a sly smile in response. He knew he shouldn't have risen to Morgana's taunting (he could dance, who was she to decide?) but thanks to liquid courage he was now standing across from her, offering to lead her in the festival's next dance.

"Well, of course I wouldn't dare be the one to stop you from making a fool of yourself. As you wish, _Merlin_, though I hope you will survive it to see the rest of the festival," she said, looking like she wished the very opposite. Merlin just grimaced back at her.

The festival had been Arthur's idea, a dance where anyone could dance with anyone else, be they noble, peasant, servant, or simple maid. Arthur told his father that the event would be to celebrate Morgana's return from capture, sort of a warmer party to follow the more closed, noble-only one. Uther grudgingly agreed, knowing that it would help introduce Morgana back into the castle life easier than if she had to struggle with it on her own. Still, Uther thought the idea of noblemen and women dancing with _peasants _was quite ludicrous. But Uther didn't know that besides Morgana's return, a certain pretty, olive-skinned maid helped influence Arthur's idea for the dance.

Merlin smiled as he thought about this, noticing that behind the crowd was Arthur oh so carefully standing by the maid in question, Gwen. The two were hardly able to hide their feelings for each other; every touch of Gwen's hand along Arthurs caused him to blush red as a rose. Arthur looked up from his preoccupation at Merlin, laughing when he noticed that his clumsy servant was actually going to try to _dance_, and with _Morgana _at that! The woman who lets no man in the castle lead her properly, choosing instead to have the man dance to _her_ will.

With an amused smile, Arthur turned to Gwen and spoke to her , the two then getting up to come and watch Merlin's probable demise along with some other members of the crowd.

Merlin sighed and turned back to Morgana, noticing that she was _still wearing that damned smirk. _But then again, the reason he was dancing with the witch was mostly because he wanted to get revenge on her for that stupid smirk she wore almost everywhere now, all the while trying to kill off everyone he cared for. The alcohol probably didn't help with his reasoning on this matter.

"Would the partners please bow before the next dance," called the conductor. Some other couples around them bowed to each other as the conductor said this. A few musicians took up their place nearby, instruments gleaming in the bright candlelight.

The two bowed slowly, both giving the other a piercing stare, not daring to take their eyes off one another. As Morgana gazed at Merlin, she noticed just how clear and steady he stared at her, despite the drinks he had. She stared even closer, suddenly mesmerized by the two liquid pools of blue. She then started to notice something different in the stare he fixed him with.

It was almost as if the loss of control the alcohol had caused in Merlin granted him instead a new, more natural control and power, one which spoke of some part of Merlin deep within him, past the foolish and naïve exterior. Some part, some piece of him that betrayed a deep power, a hidden and imposing sensation that Morgana strained to understand. Her curiosity pushed her to find out what this feeling was, what it was about Merlin that could sometimes make the hair stand up on the back of her neck with the slightest stare from the boy. The part Merlin did not let the world see.

Of course, Morgana wasn't exactly sure what it was about Merlin intrigued and somewhat intimidated her so. Merlin couldn't be anything more than a serving boy, loyal to those who hated her and her kind, always stepping in when he shouldn't and ruining her and Morgawse's attempts at revenge and justice to those who deserve it. Always in the way, a betrayer, one who poisoned her, who probably hated her because of her magic.

Hate. Morgana remembered the poisoning clearly as if it happened just then. She remembered the black fury that she wanted to unleash upon Merlin, the deep seated anger she felt when she thought about the betrayal.

And not for the first time, she remembered too his face from that day. Sorrow... it was so filled with sorrow that Morgana wondered if even _she_, the one actually suffering from the poison, looked as grief-stricken as the pale face and deep cobalt eyes that gazed so unhappily down at her. It was a foggy memory that became clearer the more she focused on it, though she tried to ignore it and fill her mind instead with hatred, as it was much easier and less confusing to feel that black emotion. She wouldn't have to feel anything else but this one darkness.

And yet sometimes she would close her eyes still see Merlin's face as he stared down at her, tears streaming readily down his pale skin… His lips open slightly, softly murmuring her name…

"_Morgana_…" Merlin said, interrupting Morgana's focus, the dancers both suddenly rising from the bow. The stare she shared with Merlin had had actually only lasted a couple seconds, but to Morgana it had felt like an eternity. Snapping out of her reverie, Morgana felt once again the comfortable hatred she had reserved for Merlin.

Merlin, pretending not to notice the smirk finding its way back up Morgana's face again, had his hands out in an upward gesture, waiting patiently for Morgana's slight ones to rest upon. Tracing her long nails along his palm, Morgana placed her hands in his. The two clasped hands in a way that may have seemed gentle to those that were watching, but to two dancers was filled with raw energy and static filling up the air between them. Not for the first time, Merlin wondered what on earth he was getting himself into.

Merlin glanced away for a brief second, donning his trademark smile for just a second before turning back to Morgana. Morgana knew better than to drop her guard; the smile had almost managed to hide that small, deep feeling Morgana felt when she looked at him. Almost. Perhaps he had noticed her probing curiosity, and threw up his defenses so as to hide again, Morgana mused.

"Are you ready, Lady Morgana?" Merlin asked, his breath warming the air.

"Yes, though I hope your clumsiness won't cause any injuries to us, _Merlin,_" Morgana answered back, her hands still resting in his.

Merlin smiled; a hint of sadness among the amusement. He then spoke low so that Morgana had to strain to hear him:

"Believe me Morgana, you would be surprised at what I can do."

Morgana raised an eyebrow at this, just as the music started playing.

The dance begun with a slow, throbbing rhythm, the two dancers beginning to step into pace with each other as a stringed instrument began to play a single note. The two stepped with the rhythm then began adding on more complicated moves, Merlin leading Morgana gracefully through various steps and twirls as the music grew faster and faster still.

Morgana could not help but express shock, Merlin moved with pure elegance and sure-footedness as he danced, the servant boy all but gone within his beautiful movements. The gentle sway with which her body moved with his was so perfectly in tune, she wasn't sure if she could ever break out of the rhythm of the song, her body fated eternally to move with the melodic singing of the instruments.

Merlin himself hardly knew what he was doing, but for some reason he felt his magic guide him throughout the dance, granting him a dexterity he knew he wouldn't have had normally. Still a bit intoxicated, he let his magic guide him through the complicated steps and turns, leading Morgana confidently with subtle indications from his movements.

A few of the audience started clapping along with the music, the others too astonished to do anything other than gape at the two circling each other in the center of the room, one of which shouldn't be able to dance any better than a goat. Arthur simply gawked at the two, unable to come up with a witty remark on his servant's sudden skill and coordination.

As they danced the intensity of their battling wills began to show, and the dance became more forceful and fiercely beautiful between the two. Morgana's steps became sharper, her movements now betraying the anger bottled up inside her. She focused this energy entirely on Merlin, whose sweeping actions mirrored Morgana's all the while fixing her with that same, indomitable cobalt gaze.

As the song reached its most intense tempo, the two began weaving around each other even more intense than before, the audience forgotten. Nothing could step between the two now; their dance was so furious and powerful that nothing could interrupt the raw energy coursing between them, heat rising from both their bodies from the exertion.

And Morgana could feel it slipping through her grasp, that deep power that had to come from _somewhere_, that mysterious power she felt through her very core. She was watching Merlin so closely now, his eyes staring back at her unblinking, excitement coursing through his veins though she could still feel him restraining.. what, exactly?

She was so close to finding it. So close- she could feel it pulse and twist with the music – the music growing louder and louder in her ears - a throbbing drum beating her heart for her - a fierce string that shrilly added its own melody to the fiery song as the mystifying power became clearer and clearer-

A loud smash awoke the dance from its reverie, glass falling to the floor from a pedestal on which vase once stood. The spectators all reacted in shock, some jumping at the sudden explosion while others gasped in confusion. The music stopped abruptly, leaving the Merlin and Morgana standing unmoving in the center of the room. A couple of guards rushed in to see what had happened while many of the audience started bustling about or talking furiously to one another, wondering what had happened.

Arthur and the guards walked over to the glass remnants, observing the wreckage carefully. It was a mysterious event, but Arthur was sure the dance had just caused the already unstable vase to fall off its pedestal, though it had happened awfully fast.

"The vase has just fallen accidentally from all the movement, see to it that someone will clean it up," Arthur ordered his men. Slowly the crowd lost interest in the vase, and began chatting animatedly about the dance that just occurred, the music picking up once more and a few couples now dancing along with it.

Arthur sighed and began looking for his idiotic servant to compliment him on his sudden dancing skills, rather grudgingly of course; Arthur hated giving compliments but he could not deny that Merlin deserved one for this surprising new skill. Also Arthur wanted to ask where in the hell that skill came from.

But when Arthur looked around at the festive crowd, his manservant was nowhere to be seen. Happy that he could put off complimenting his idiotic manservant for later, he went to go find Gwen again and see if she would like to dance. Heart beating fast at the thought, Arthur quickly started to walk through the crowd to find his love.

No one, in the confusion following the breaking of the vase, had noticed the servant slipping quietly out a door and into an empty hallway, trying to walk as fast as he could without looking suspicious. No one noticed, except for Morgana.

For she had seen that deep, bright gold light overcome Merlin's cobalt eyes as the vase shattered.

Morgana felt as though she were in a dream, still breathing shallowly on that same spot. She saw it, felt it during that moment. The power Merlin was holding inside himself. The power that she could not feel the end of, as if it continued on and on like the very heavens above. She felt it resonate strongly with her power, filling her with warmth and awe and anger causing her mind to fall into chaos.

Magic. And strong magic at that.

Images flashed through her mind, each too fast to see clearly, one of Morgawse looking at her proudly, calling her sister, for Morgana was her only family - another of Morgana holding a faint glow in her hand, struggling to keep it alight – those terribly sad blue eyes, buried deep within the tears that streamed freely down the soft face of the one who poisoned her-

Unable to think, Morgana watched as Merlin slipped quietly out of the room, and then slowly followed him down the hallway. She did not consciously move her feet, some inner force was dragging them slowly along the floor to that figure moving up ahead, her mind still reeling with emotions.

Merlin leaned against the wall in the pale moonlight, legs weak from the fear that he might have been found out. He was pretty sure no one had seen him, but still surprised he had lost control like that. He breathed in and out slowly for a while, and then began to turn back towards the way he came, not wanting to have someone come look for him. He stopped short when he noticed a figure standing there already, pale skin glowing in the moonlight, ruby mouth open ever so slightly, her eyes staring wide at him, filled with confusion, anger, and hurt.

Merlin froze. He stared back at Morgana as she continued to pace slowly towards him, a question Merlin dreaded more than anything forming in her lips. Merlin, unable to move or look away from those pale green eyes, simply waited as she stopped in front of him and spoke, soft as the moonlight itself:

"You have magic."

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><p><strong>Phew! That was a bit intense to write. But I had to write it of course, plotbunnies wouldn't leave me alone! I originally planned for this to be a light comedy about Merlin's random dancing skills, but I couldn't help myself from taking a more serious emotional route - Merlin and Morgana are just too fun to mess with, they're so up and down and all over the place, going from hate to love and all sorts of nonsense.<strong>

**Oooh and I'm so sorry for the mean cliffhanger! Should I make this a two-shot? Or leave it as it is? Anyway, I'd like to thank everyone once again for the favorites and the reviews, I hope to keep writing some stories added on to this one and perhaps make a few longer ones as well. **

**Thanks for reading, please review and let me know what you think! :D**


	3. Chapter 3: Terrible Teleportation

_Note: To all who want me to continue The Dance of the Witch and the Warlock, believe me it will be coninued- I just have to finish a few ideas up for it to make sure that the story works the way I want it to. It will be the next chapter I add. _

**_If I have already written the next chapter, just skip this story to get to Part 2 of the previous Merlin/Morgana drama. _**

**Disclaimer: I own Merlin like I own China. I don't. So don't sue! **

**A/N: This next story is just a bit of humor I thought up, and I am once again embarrassing the king. Think of it as a comic relief intermission between all the angsty and intense drama that was the last chapter _ I apologize if there are any spelling/story errors (I'm sure there are) but I just wanted to give you guys something, I hope you enjoy it! Please review if you do!**

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><p><strong>~Teleportation Can Go Awfully Wrong~<strong>

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All day the knights, the newly-crowned King, and the Court Sorcerer (sorry, Court Warlock) have been sitting around that blasted Round Table, and yet not one of them have been able to come up with a satisfying answer as to how to sneak into an impregnable fortress. Every idea invented by one of the men was thwarted by another pointing out that it wouldn't work on this fortress- whether by wall or guard or magical magic-blocking-fire-breathing monster- and it seemed that there was simply no way the group could get inside the damn castle without someone else dying in some gruesome way. But they had to at least try, otherwise Camelot would be facing certain doom.

What kind of doom, only Arthur and Merlin knew, but the knights knew from the look on their faces that it hadn't been good. Gwaine overheard something that sounded like "Sash" but hadn't been able to decipher exactly what this was and why it should be feared. However, the King and the Warlock stated vehemently that it had to be destroyed for the greater good, and so they called a meeting around the Round Table.

The knights still continued their fruitless attempts at ideas at breaking into the fortress, each idea more ridiculous than the last. After some time of frustrated bickering over whether digging into the castle would work, Merlin interrupted the debate.

"There's always teleportation," Merlin said, looking at everyone around the table.

The expressions of those around him changed dramatically. Gwaine gave an uneasy chuckle, Lancelot sighed uneasily and rested his face in his hands, and Arthur blanched. A couple of the others around the table looked at one another in confusion. Then the knights and the king began to protest desperately.

"No. Just.. Couldn't we... fly in? Or anything else?"

"Maybe use Percival as a decoy, then run straight into the castle."

"Light all our swords on fire and swing in on ropes, maybe tied to the top of the tower-"

"Hide in some sort of giant wooden contraption and pretend it's a gift. Perhaps a rabbit would work?"

"Dress up Percival as a beautiful woman, and _then_ use him as a decoy."

The king just stayed silent, covering his face with his hands and mumbling "no not that.. _Anything_ but that..."

They continued on this rant for some time until Merlin interrupted. Percival looked relieved for this.

"Look, I know there's been hiccups with teleportation before," Merlin said, while Arthur just glared at him, "but I've finally had the time to practice the spell more, especially since we're all open about the magic.. things. And I see no other way we're going to get into this blasted castle, so why not give it a chance?" Merlin glanced up hopefully at the knights, all of whom still wore darkened expressions.

"Well I think Merlin has a point sire. How are we supposed to get into an impregnable, magically guarded castle without using magic?" Sir Leon asked, trying to reason through the king's silence.

"Look Leon, mate, we know you're trying to take the reasonable way out of this, but Merlin hasn't got exactly the best track record for this sort of thing," Gwaine said, as Merlin frowned at him.

"Before you all found out about Merlin's magic, the people who knew were the ones to be used for 'testing'," Lancelot continued to explain, cutting off Merlin's protest, "and like Gwaine's said, he's made quite a few mistakes using _us_ as his test subjects."

At this, the two men nodded in agreement. Arthur continued to look slightly traumatized, attempting to remove himself from the unfavorable conversation altogether.

"Lancelot I apologized already for that- I never meant for you to end up on top of that poor lady in the field. But you can't deny that the spell worked; you were in one piece, and since you apologized so _enthusiastically_ afterward, there was really no harm done, is there?" Merlin said with a slight grin.

"If by 'apologizing enthusiastically' you mean screaming apologies while running away from a crazed hag throwing pots at you and sicking her bear-sized dog on you, then yes it worked out _very nicely_, Merlin," Lancelot said in an annoyed tone.

"Yes, but you did end up in the area we wanted to send you to. Well.. about a league away from where we planned for you to end up, but at least you didn't end up in a.." Merlin coughed then glanced at Gwaine.

Gwaine, who had been looking as if Lancelot's mishap with teleportation was a normal occurrence in the tavern-hopper's life, groaned as the memory of his own mishap came back to him.

"Well, what exactly could have happened to _you_ that is so much worse than bruises and possible rabies?" Lancelot asked, unable to keep the curiosity out of his voice. The other knights all looked round at Gwaine, Arthur still trying to remain as unnoticeable as possible.

"Well let's just say a certain Warlock happened to forget that the space he teleported me to was chest-deep into a nice bath of reeking, decay-filled, bug and snake infested, sickly-green swamp that also happened to be about _two_ leagues away from where I was expected to end up," Gwaine added, nose wrinkling at the memory.

Merlin blushed at this, and almost started to protest, but then stopped as Gwaine continued to speak.

"It was easily the foulest thing I have ever had the misfortune of laying my eyes on, let alone having my body _in_," Gwaine said, turning green at the thought, "and I threw up on myself from the stench, adding only more to my misery. And as you lads know, it takes a hella lot of any sort of thing to make me lose my meal." The knights nodded in agreement. "Not to mention that I couldn't move an inch from the spot, having to stay in the disgusting sludge while all sorts of maggots and worms crawled through my clothes and back. They particularly liked wriggling in certain spots, mostly around my lower-"

"-Aand if you remember, I managed to find you, Gwaine, then helped you clean off and bought you a ton of ale," Merlin threw in quickly, luckily managing to cut Gwaine off from this unpleasant thought as the other men listening in horror unconsciously put their hands protectively by their legs. Elyan looked as if he never wanted to eat again.

"Well I really needed that ale, Merlin, thanks to the horror I had to experience in that cursed bog," Gwaine added, smiling at Merlin but still looking noticeably pale-green.

The other knights around the round table weren't too keen on the teleportation idea now. Still, Leon pressed on as he knew it was probably their only option and he had to make the King see sense, no matter the past accidents that came with it.

"Your Highness," Leon said, Merlin looking at him hopefully, "even though these things happened, Merlin must have gained more experience in the matter just as he said. He is a talented magic-user-" Merlin grinned at Leon- "and is usually able to perform best when serious rather than for practice." The other men glanced in half-approval at each other as Leon said this, Lancelot still unconvinced and Gwaine sickly-looking.

Arthur just shook his head frantically and grimaced, still looking as though he would rather eat the swamp Gwaine was stuck in than try Leon's suggestion. Merlin, finally losing his patience, finally turned to confront the surly royal.

"You know I'm good with figuring new spells out, and that this is probably the only way we could get into the castle! Stop being a prat and just accept the only plan we've got, already!" Merlin snapped.

Arthur just shot Merlin a glare, the warlock cringing somewhat at the fierce look but still standing firm.

"Look Arthur, I learn from the past. There's no way I would make the same mistakes, and it's not _my_ fault that the spell didn't specify that I needed to teleport both you _and _your clothes to Gwen's pla-"

Arthur let out a strangled yell and put Merlin in a headlock before he could say any more, the King's face reddening to a color that would put a tomato to shame.

"We – do – _not – _ever – talk about that – _EVER – MERLIN-" _Arthur said between knuckling Merlin's skull and wrestling him against a wall. Arthur seemed to have momentarily forgotten that Merlin could have him flung against a wall with just a word, and luckily for him, Merlin seemed to have forgotten that as well as he unsuccessfully tried to wrestle out of Arthur's grip.

The other knights just sort of sat in an awkward silence: both Leon and Percival avoiding Arthur's eyes by finding a new interest in the carpet, Elyan giving Arthur a shocked glare while Gwaine gave Arthur a knowing smirk, Lancelot pale with his mouth agape. This continued until Arthur loosened his grip on Merlin, and said with Merlin falling to the floor dazed:

"We will _not _be relying on tel-tele-" Arthur choked on the word, "this magic _thing,_ until Merlin has practiced it _a thousand more times_, and it has worked every. Single. Time."

Arthur's stormy face glared down at his idiot warlock, who tried to gulp but failed due to his recent thrashing. The other knights stayed silent so as to not also get caught in the Arthur-Storm, and just watched as the King took his seat, still red as a rose.

"Well," Gwaine interrupted the silence saying, "we'd better start to pick out a dress that matches Percival's eyes."

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><p><strong>Poor Arthur, I'm always so mean to him in my stories. But I just love to see the king embarrassed, and Merlin is usually a good reason for it. Percival gets a good amount of problems as well, I do hope they find a dress in the write color... <strong>**I wrote this entire story listening to Flogging Molly, so I wondered how it would turn out after that! XD**

**And as always, I'd like to thank the people who have reviewed/favorited/watched this story last chapter: Poupoufinou'sDaydreaming, MagicalMoonStar, Elin Marc, NeoNails, Chaos Creates Order, and Pyros of the World Ignite. Thank you so much for all your positive feedback!**

**Like I said, I will get to working on the next chapter ASAP, I've already got it basically all planned out (and believe me I want it done as much as you, I'm a pretty big Merlin vs. Morgana/Mergana fan, so I'm looking forward to it!) **

**Please donate your wonderful (or not so wonderful, I can take a bashing X|) reviews to help a poor ego! I'll work harder and faster knowing that it makes you guys happier! (I really suck at making cookies IRL, so I'm sure virtual ones would only make you sick. I can give out virtual hugs instead! Please review!)**


	4. Chapter 4: The Fiery Dance, pt 2

**Note: This is an *optional* continuation of Chapter 2: The Fiery Dance. For those who were content to leave the story at a one shot, don't read this next part. Written for those who asked for a two-shot. Or anyone who wants to read it, really.**

**Note2: Written somewhat to Sis Puella Magica! by Kajiura Yuki; it's a good song to listen to *parts* of the story with. To listen to it, do a google search of 'Sis Puella Magica! mp3' and click on the first link. Any of the following mp3 links are good.**

**This story is a bit more serious than my others, but I hope you will enjoy it nonetheless!**

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><p><strong><em>Previously:<em>**

_Merlin leaned against the wall in the pale moonlight, legs weak from the fear that he might have been found out. He was pretty sure no one had seen him, but still surprised he had lost control like that. He breathed in and out slowly for a while, and then began to turn back towards the way he came, not wanting to have someone come look for him. He stopped short when he noticed a figure standing there already, pale skin glowing in the moonlight, ruby mouth open ever so slightly, her eyes staring wide at him, filled with confusion, anger, and hurt._

_Merlin froze. He stared back at Morgana as she continued to pace slowly towards him, a question Merlin dreaded more than anything forming in her lips. Merlin, unable to move or look away from those pale green eyes, simply waited as she stopped in front of him and spoke, soft as the moonlight itself:_

"_You have magic."_

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><p><strong>~The Dance of the Witch and the Warlock~<strong>

**Part 2**

**.**

**.**

Morgana whispered it as soft as mist, Merlin's heart beginning to beat as though it was trying to leap out of his chest. Morgana watched as Merlin's face paled in the moonlight, his deep blue eyes widening in fear.

Magic. Is that what she said? He had magic? Of course not.. of course.. he didn't have..

Merlin's mouth opened and closed as he tried to speak the lie he so desperately wanted to hold on to, a soft mumble in disbelief coming out instead. He could not speak, his voice seemed to have been stolen by those veiled crystal green eyes.

He could not look away. Pure, icy green as frost on flowers... filled with so many emotions at once it was impossible to tell one apart from another. And yet Merlin knew the emotions he saw in those eyes. He could feel them, pulsating uneasily around Morgana's ivory skin in the form of her magic. Shock. Anger. Hate. Sadness. Hurt. Confusion. Fear.

And one other emotion. Merlin struggled to feel it, he wasn't sure exactly what it was.. It couldn't possibly be.. relief? But as soon as he felt it, it vanished into the shadows of Morgana's lightless eyes; vanished into cold, hard hate.

Merlin and Morgana stood, gilded in the moonlight, staring at each other as the silence became even more tense, until a cloud passing over the moon filled the hallway with shadow. Merlin just stood, trapped against the window, as Morgana walked even closer to Merlin, each shaking step loud as thunder to him, staring up at him with those same frozen eyes.

"How.. Wh.. What.. You.." Morgana tried to say, failing to get the words out as she walked closer to Merlin, who flinched with every step she took. He couldn't stay here- Morgana knew- he had to run, had to make something else, had to be anywhere but here-

And then Morgana came to a stop, her pale face just inches from Merlin's own, her icy emerald eyes still staring at Merlin's own clouded sapphire ones, nothing but her breath permeating the silence draped around them-

Morgana then broke the silence with an awful shrieking, her eyes glowing an enraged gold, throwing Merlin further up against the wall while Merlin struggled against the onslaught of out-of-control magic, his ears unable to hear anything but the agonized cries of Morgana. He felt tendrils of magic creep up around his throat, threatening to cut off his air supply as tears streamed down Morgana's face. He felt his magic itching to protect him, and yet he couldn't let it out, couldn't let her see it, he had to control it...

"_Mor.. gana.. st-stop.. The g-guards.." _Merlin tried to choke out, but Morgana pushed her magic even harder, causing colorful stars to pop into Merlin's vision. Morgana's continued wailing, but this time managing to shriek out words such as _"BETRAYER... SLAYER OF KIN... LIAR..!" _all while her eyes glowed such a bright, wrathful gold that Merlin was almost afraid they would scorch the witch's face and leave nothing but blackened scars where her eyes once were.

Around the corner, Merlin could barely hear footsteps rushing to their location in the hallway- His magic writhing restlessly under his skin- If he and Morgana are found like this-

Merlin couldn't hold back any longer; his magic burst free of its confinement, filling him with raw, warm power that glowed with an incandescent golden light. He felt the force swirl around his body, flowing freely as Morgana's eyes widened in horror, her magic still swirling around her. As the cloud passed and once more allowed the moonlight to swallow them both, he could see himself in her eyes, arms spread wide, swirls of aura rising like flames from his body, eyes even brighter than his magic.

As he heard the footsteps pound even closer, Merlin willed his magic to surround both him and Morgana, the latter snarling and desperately struggling against his magic with her own, as he hurriedly mumbled _"Aldwienness__ F__ié__rn__e."_

Then all went dark.

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><p>Morgana felt a great rush of magic- the moonlit hallway disappearing into swirls of color and sound- her body spinning in the darkness- and then-<p>

The spinning finally ended at feeling of falling on a soft, earthy ground. Morgana felt as if all the energy she had stored up inside of her had disappeared with the swirling room, leaving her fatigued. Morgana laid there with her eyes closed, the smell of grass and dew drifting heavily into her senses. Slowly and dizzily, Morgana sat up and opened her eyes to her surroundings.

She was sitting in a forest glade, the moonlight cutting through the soft canopy in ribbons, lighting upon a silver river rippling slowly past her. The lush vegetation was filled with green ferns and flowers of many different colors, each faded in the soft glow of the moon. The trees were strong and tall with thick trunks, their leaves rustling softly in the wind with ancient whispers of a forgotten kind. Morgana could feel magic permeating the forest, attempting to soothe her as she tried to remember exactly how she ended up there. She stood up, dreamily, and began to look around when her gaze finally found what she was looking for.

A man, adorned in a soft light of gold, walked cautiously over to her, his gold eyes shaded by dark lashes and his raven hair shining in the moonlight.

Merlin. Her friend. Her betrayer. Her poison.

The powerful warlock was now standing in front of her, pale face glowing in the moonlight as the magic swirled continuously around him. Morgana could feel it through her bones, the magic that seemed old as the earth itself, strong as the wind, fierce as a fire, and gentle as water... _His_ magic.

She felt her magic respond to his, rising with it the return of her black emotions. She suddenly wanted to strike at him, wanted to make him fall over, wanted to make him bleed-

But as soon as these emotions rose in her, they slowly faded into pain and sorrow. She willed herself to hate again, this dark emotion now mixing with the new sadness. She then knelt down onto the earth, short gasps rising from her chest amidst the angry tears welling up in her eyes.

Merlin just stood, watching her silently as he felt his heart tear with sorrow for the crumpled figure weeping in the glade. He let his magic slowly die down as he stood, waiting for Morgana to speak. He wanted to give her the chance to be angry at him, for he knew he deserved it for what he's done to her in the past. But he wouldn't let her kill him. There was too much at stake to let himself give in to her dark revenge.

But he wouldn't kill her, either.

He knew that she had evil in her, that she had followed that evil to try to hurt him and the ones he loved so dearly, and yet he could not bring himself to attack her in such a vulnerable state. Perhaps it was the soft way her rosy lips gasped for air, or her hands gripping the grass and tearing them from their roots, or perhaps it was her pale green eyes, filled with so much twisted hurt that Merlin could almost see the knives tearing into Morgana's heart.

After what seemed like hours, Morgana turned to look at Merlin and ask venemously:

"Why are you fighting against me?"

Merlin had prepared himself for it, and yet each word she spoke struck a blow to him all the same. Still with his guard up, Merlin walked a bit closer to Morgana, stopping by a cluster of violet orchids. Slowly, she stood up and looked at him with piercing, enraged eyes.

"Why didn't you help me and my sister deliver justice to the tyrant King Uther, slayer of _our_ kind? Why do you protect him, and his son, who will also blindly persecute the innocent? Or you, if he finds out about you? Why do you not use your power to help bring magic back into Camelot?" Morgana half-shrieked the last of these questions, her eyes burning with both tears and pain while Merlin just stood there, lips white and blue eyes staring determinedly at the ground.

"Why do you hide in Arthur's shadow, and pretend to be something you're not?" Morgana continued, her anger causing her magic to rise once again, "Why do you just watch your kin burn, as that madman continues to stare down at them with hate-filled ignorance?" Merlin just continued to stare at Morgana unflinchingly as Morgana waited for his answer, the forest quietly observing.

"Because one day, Arthur will be the best King the land has or will ever know. One day, he will surpass Uther's hatred and blindness, which unfortunately is shared by Morgause who emulates the one she wants to get revenge on," Merlin spoke, his blue eyes unwavering.

"How _dare_ you compare my sister to that _monster_.. She works to protect her kind.. And Uther deserves _pain_ for his cruelties and murders!" Morgana hissed, almost spitting.

"And yet Morgause has murdered for her own gain just has Uther has! She has used people and controlled their hearts with fear and darkness and hurt them, just like Uther!" Merlin shouted back, eyes narrowing and fists clenching.

"Morgause is the only one who has cared for me, the only one who has accepted who I am, if Uther knew what I was I'd be put on the pyre same as every other innocent soul who was burned to death!" Morgana shouted, her temper reaching a peak.

"Morgause has used you for her own gain, just as she used countless others! She may care for you as a sister, but she does not put you above her own goals for her twisted justice!" Merlin shot back.

"Then who would protect me besides her? Arthur? No, he'd never be the king you'd expect him to be, he'd turn me in just as cold-blooded as his cruel father, and Gwen would probably do the same out of fear... Nobody could have understood what I went through.. Nobody but Morgause.." Morgana paused, her breath hitching "And.. you.. you could have helped me.. You could have helped me understand what I was going through, taught me to be unafraid of my own self.." her voice broke at the end.

Merlin could not find his voice to say anything, sorrow tearing at his heart. Morgana saw the display of emotions run across the warlock's face, and almost smirked at the sight. She so wanted to see his sadness, wanted him to feel her pain...

Then finally, Merlin's eyes shone as he began to speak slowly and with a surety that Morgana knew was backed by that same, endless magic that had so intimidated and enthralled her before:

"Arthur will not be like his father. I have seen the goodness in him, seen that he will be a great king. He and Gwen both love you, and would not want to see _any_ harm done to you," Merlin said with unfaltering loyalty, then continued, "and they certainly wouldn't use you as Morgause had." Morgana blinked, confused and angry at what that implied.

Merlin continued, "Morgause used you as a conduit for the sleeping spell cast over Camelot, without your knowledge. She chose to make _you_, her _sister_, another piece in her twisted games for control."

"You're lying," Morgana stated, her voice wavering, but a sick feeling in her stomach told her otherwise. Morgana felt as if the world was falling away from her. Her sister.. her last protector.. her _only_ protector, using her in such a way.. fresh tears began to fall onto her cheeks.

Who now did she have left?

"And you poisoned me.. to stop.. this spell.." Morgana spoke, weakly, looking to the shadowed orchids for some sort of connection back to the world. But the orchids gave only their silence.

Morgana then stared at Merlin, unable to look away. Set upon the warlock's pale face were eyes so filled with regret and sorrow that she felt her own heart cry out in agony at the sight, forcefully reminding her that it had not quite died yet from her own pain and darkness. She felt her hate-fueled desire to see Merlin in pain dwindle to nothing in the face of his tortured expression. How could he possibly still feel remorse for her, when he had shown that he hated her? Had he really carried _this _much regret for his actions?

And Morgana knew as she looked into those deep blue eyes, flowing freely with tears as they gazed at her, that yes, yes he had. And that even though he had no choice when he made the decision to poison her, he felt remorse rip through him day after day.

But how could she forgive him?

Merlin saw Morgana looking at her through his wet vision, and for a second he saw a flash of the old Morgana, when she allowed herself to care for others. He could see that carefully placed mask on her face slowly lifting.

"Why.." Morgana said quietly after some time, as tears illuminated by the moonlight still silently streamed down Merlin's face, "do you believe in Arthur so much?"

Merlin took a deep breath, his face relaxing somewhat into a gesture that made him look wise beyond his years, and yet still managing to create that goofy grin of his. Morgana couldn't explain the feeling that she had then, the feeling that she was close to something, the answer to a mystery that had surrounded Merlin just as his magic had done.

"Destiny." Merlin looked at Morgana's confused expression and continued:

"Because even though Arthur is an idiotic prat, I must protect him because it is my destiny to do so. Because I am the strongest or will be the strongest sorcerer to ever live, known as Emrys to the druids, and that I was granted such power to fulfill my destiny to protect Arthur. All so that he can bring magic back to Camelot and unite the lands of Albion."

Merlin sighed, and then continued with a voice that allowed a spark of light back into his eyes:

"And even with all that, I believe in Arthur not because of destiny, not because I was meant to protect him, but because he is my friend."

The weight of the words hit Morgana like a wave. Stunned, she could only stare as the goofy, joke-loving servant was momentarily replaced by Emrys, a strong warlock of prophecy, his stark form surrounded by the mythical green forest and bathed in the moon's silver glow. One who had the power to single-handedly demolish a kingdom, but the gentleness of the sun's warm rays... And she knew that when he spoke, he was telling the truth because her magic told her so. She had felt his magic first hand; it wasn't anything like Morgause's or Mordred's or any other magic she knew, it was pure, as if it was drawn straight from the earth itself. It perfectly fit his light-hearted nature and yet made him dangerous at the same time.

Morgana had one more question, but she hesitated to ask it for she feared that the question would cause the flowers of the glade to wilt, the river to slow and the moon to hide, bathing them both once more in the cold, empty darkness. But she could not leave it be.

"Why did you not tell me you had magic?" Morgana finally managed to utter, her voice sounding strangely far away to her own ears.

Merlin looked away at this, feeling once more the sadness and regret of the past. He looked at Morgana's pale green eyes, gazing so desperately up at him, so soft that he almost wondered if the ice in her eyes had thawed somewhat.

"I wanted to," Merlin said, remembering his feelings when he had found out that Morgana had magic, that she was just like him, "I wanted to tell you so badly, Morgana. I wanted to tell you that you weren't a monster, that your powers were nothing to fear, that they could be used for good and wonderful things... That I went through the same pain as you and also had to live under Uther's shadow."

"Then why didn't you? I couldn't bear living under the fear that I may have magic, that I may be evil and that Uther may want me dead-" Morgana choked at the end, unable to finish. Merlin sighed, resigned to the fact that he should now just continue to tell Morgana the truth. The river continued on its path downhill, the soft sound of the water in harmony with the rustle of leaves.

"Because I was warned by others, others who had the power of sight just like you do, that you were not to be trusted and could bring about the destruction of Camelot. They told me to keep my magic secret.. No matter how much I wanted to tell you."

Morgana, surprised at that thought, wondered who it was Merlin was talking about that had seen her as such a threat. She let out a dry sob, knowing that whoever it was had been absolutely right about her, that her heart was plagued by darkness. And she could see what she would have looked like to Merlin; a hate-filled witch, twisted by mad ideas of revenge just as Uther had been..

The thought sent her stomach turning over. Merlin was right, her plots with Morgause, the way she regarded her once-friends, the way she twisted others like pawns to her will-she was just like Uther. Uther's daughter, indeed. Morgana let out another dry sob and mumbled through tears, "I truly am a monster.. they were right.."

"Who was right?" Morgana turned to Merlin in shock. "Whether or not you are destined to be a monster is up to you to decide," Merlin continued to say.

"How can you believe that after all I've done?" Morgana spoke in a whisper.

"Because the future is not set in stone. You're free to be whoever you want, Morgana, and no _prophecy_is ever going to take that choice away from you. You can still make up for all the pain and sorrow you have caused others, because no matter what you have done, if you are repentant your true friends will always allow you to come right back to them. And they will forgive you." Merlin looked up at the stars, now visible through the canopy of branches and leaves.

Morgana blinked through her tears, still too shocked to speak. She looked up at Merlin, his calm blue eyes beautiful in the translucent moonlight, the trees casting shadows on his pale skin.

"I once thought I was a monster. I didn't find out that I had magic like you did, I was born with it," Merlin spoke in barely a whisper. Morgana moved closer to him again in surprise, feeling the warmth from his skin mingle with the cold night air.

"But I learned to control it, and learned that it could be used for good. And I know you could too, Morgana."

And slowly, she felt the chains of fate slide off her shoulders, feeling the weight drop to the ground and her shoulders relax. She did not have to be a monster. She would be given a second chance to use magic for what it was supposed to be used for; helping others. And protecting her friends. Her friends... Gwen and Arthur... As she thought about them, she felt a light warmth spreading throughout her body, relief and happiness rolling through her in waves.

Merlin, watching this, felt his heart lighten at the sight of Morgana's face relaxing back into the kind-hearted and compassionate woman he used to call his friend. He bent down even closer to Morgana, watching as the moonlight glinted off her dark hair. Morgana then did something Merlin did not expect. She let out a burst of laughter, and pulled Merlin into a fierce, two-armed hug.

Stunned as he felt her body press up against his, he slowly allowed his hands to reach around and hold her back. Her dress was smooth in his hands as he felt her body curve up against his. He could not believe how hard his heart was hammering in his chest, a smile creeping up over his face as if he had no control over it. Morgana laughed softly while crying, her hands gripping his shirt as Merlin felt her tears wet the fabric.

And then, without any warning, Morgana's pale red lips rose up to meet with his.

The rush of happiness and exultation that came with the kiss caused both his and Morgana's magic to unravel completely out of control, a golden light surrounding them both as flowers blossomed at their heels. Morgana kissed him even more fiercely at this, and Merlin responded with the same passion as her. Through their lips both felt their apologies for one another, their shared pain and regret finally becoming one and allowing pure joy to overtake all their dark emotions. The magic swirled and twisted, connecting the two in a way that even the kiss could not, sharing that joy with one another and reveling in each other's magic. The glade soon came alive with multicolored lights- red, blues, purples- all raining across the forest like spectacular shooting stars.

Slowly, Merlin began to pull away from the kiss, letting his natural goofy smile light his face up as Morgana leaned her head against his shoulder, her own smile brightening up her face. Morgana looked up at him, reveling in the soft blue glow of his eyes, which reciprocated back to her that he cared for her as much as she cared for him.

They both knew that their days spent alone and frightened were over. They had each other to share their magic with; a light in their hearts that could never be outshone by the light of a pyre.

After a while, Merlin and Morgana realized that they would have to return to the festival sooner or later, but the pair chose to wait a few more moments in the moonlit glade, holding each other and wiping their own tears from their faces as they watched the beautiful lights from their magic blossom across the starry night sky.

_~End~_

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><p><strong>.<strong>

**I hope you enjoyed the second part, I had it done two days ago but wanted to check over for a bit to improve upon it. I know it was a bit long, but there's really no easy way to explain the Morgana/Merlin relationship without a ton of drama happening, in my opinion.**

**And again, thanks to everyone who reviewed/favorited/followed my last story: Daphnium, dpfic, Ph0enix-Flyer, Catindahat, alisseadreams, lilyflower1345, writing-at-random, yarra, thealmightyspork, and person226 (this last one is such an ambiguous name that I wondered if it really was a person XD)**

**Please review if you liked it!**


	5. Chapter 5:  Sorcery is Serious Business

**So I've decided to give you guys a humorous story after the intense Morgana/Merlin one. This will be part 1 of probably a two or three-shot story. There's not much Merlin in it, but he will get plenty the next part. It's not _too _ridiculous; it has some seriousness in it. There may or may not be a reveal in the next part ;)**

**So please read and enjoy!**

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><p><strong>A Complete Idiot's Guide to Being an Evil Sorcerer<strong>

**.**

**.**

**.**

"No no I think.. they sound more of like 'essnessquiiess,' sort of like a snake."

"No that's stupid, there's definitely a bunch of 'ah' sounds in there, like 'aghienaaaaiaaayaaa'."

"Why not combine the two sounds so it's like.. like "assinahashaaaaa?"

"Asnashniayaaa cuuuunaaaa.. OOnaasinya… Like this?"

"Yea that sounds close to it, try wriggling your body in motion with the sounds to make it more convincing and evil-like."

"Well either way, as long as you say it while snarling it'll sound pretty menacing," Gwaine said, glancing around at Prince Arthur and the other knights around the round table. Lancelot just groaned. He didn't know why everyone was trying to figure out how best to pretend to be a powerful sorcerer; he must've missed the meeting where Arthur and the other knights decided they wanted to look like fools for an hour.

Of course, Lancelot couldn't point out much to the other knights and his prince, for each time he tried to explain how sorcerers actually acted, the men replied with things like "Pffft how would _you_ know any better than us what a sorcerer would sound like, Lancelot?" and "I've fought plenty of them by now, I've seen what they do!"

All in all Lancelot was glad Merlin wasn't here; the warlock probably would've died from the irony (or laughter) by now. The knights clearly had no idea what a sorcerer _actually_ sounded like when chanting a spell, as demonstrated by their ridiculous bellowing, and Lancelot knew that if the warlock were here he would have laughed himself to tears at the sight. Though Lancelot _did_ wonder why Arthur didn't have Merlin here.

"Look mate, I'm telling ya you need to glare as you say the words, and use your body as well in gestures when you do a spell. Stomping on the ground also helps," Gwaine said, as he watched Elyan launch a spectacular attempt at a 'spell' by jumping, clapping his hands together repeatedly and groaning gibberish.

"Why don't you demonstrate, then, Sir Gwaine?" Elyan said turning to Gwaine, slightly annoyed.

"Alright, but don't wet your pants from _fear_, mates!" Gwaine said as he grinned. Arthur just looked at him in slight exasperation as Gwaine took up a wide stance in front of the others.

Bending to his knees, Gwaine started moving his arms in a sort of wriggly fashion, curling his fingers in complicated loops and swaying back and forth on the spot. He then followed this up by a strange, almost ghostlike wailing and continued to move his arms in swirling motions. Lancelot furrowed his brow with his mouth slightly open, wondering exactly why magic-users would need to imitate a seasick cat in order to incant spells.

"OoooOaaassssnaasinyaaaa, peeerlii miyoooornaaaaassaaa!" Gwaine hissed, throwing his hands out by his sides in upward claws. Arthur nodded approvingly, while Leon's brows rose in a sort of appraising gesture. Lancelot wondered if this was just some sort of very elaborate joke. Or hoped, at least.

"You know, Gwaine, that does kind of seem like that's what an evil sorcerer would do… The hand-twisting helps them cast their spells; I've seen plenty of sorcerers do something like that..." Arthur said thoughtfully, Lancelot groaning and covering his face with his palm. Lancelot was sure that he'd never seen a sorcerer do that; in fact, whenever Merlin casted a spell he was usually very subdued about it. Though that may just be because Merlin can't exactly flail about and shout spells with Arthur nearby, which is exactly what Gwaine was imitating at the moment, albeit with some added wailing and a couple of pirouettes.

"Alright then, we'll need to imitate Gwaine if we're going to be convincing evil sorcerers," Arthur said.

"We'll practice that later, and for now we need to discuss appearances."

Unable to take any more of this, Lancelot interrupted."Sire, if I may speak."

"Of course. What is it you wanted to say, Lancelot?" Arthur asked.

"Well, I must've missed something but… Why exactly are we trying to imitate how a sorcerer would act?" Lancelot asked, somehow managing to keep the exasperation out of his voice.

"Well we need to for a mission later on. We need to be convincing magic-users… to be… convincing," Arthur said furtively, his expression completely serious. Lancelot tried hard to keep his expression the same, inwardly wondering what in the world the prince was talking about.

"I'm afraid I still don't understand, sire."

"Well," Arthur continued slowly, "there's a certain someone who doesn't understand that sorcerers are seriously dangerous, and that he should _stop trying to throw himself in battles he should leave up to me_ _or my knights_." There were some nods of approval, followed by a worried sigh from Gwaine.

"Sire I know you were mad at him for what he did recently, but Merlin's still alive-"argued Lancelot, but Prince Arthur interrupted the dark-haired knight:

"And it's a miracle he did, Lancelot! Those three sorcerers were some of the strongest, and for him to confront them it's a wonder they didn't blow his head off right then and there!"

Lancelot frowned, remembering the recent bandit attack in the woods. He had gone with Arthur and Merlin on a patrol recently, Merlin only coming along because the trip also doubled as a hunting spree for Arthur and Arthur needed someone to carry his things, or so Arthur said. Lancelot figured it was probably because he and Arthur had had somewhat of a tense relationship recently due to a certain olive-skinned maid, and Merlin was a key part in loosening it up so that the two would be comfortable talking to each other again. The trip went rather well until the bandits attacked, ruining the lucky streak of Arthur and Merlin's hunting trips without a bandit attack: 2.

As the screaming, axe-wielding men ran towards them Lancelot wondered whether there was some sort of curse on his two companions, since nobody else seemed to draw in groups of angry men quite like Arthur and Merlin did. Arthur and Lancelot unsheathed their swords; Lancelot saw Merlin edge protectively near Arthur out of the corner of his eye, the young warlock's eyes glowing temporarily gold as a nearby tree branch fell on its victim.

_Why is it that Arthur never notices how often his attackers get killed or knocked-out by falling tree limbs? It's not like it would be a common occurrence and yet Arthur continues to write it off as luck… _ Lancelot mused. Still, it was the prince's thick-headedness that helped keep him alive, for it allowed Merlin to keep surreptitiously using magic to protect him.

One by one, the bandits were defeated as Arthur furiously swung his sword from target to target. Lancelot, pulling his sword from the gut of one unlucky bandit, sliced it through the neck of another one just as Arthur finished off the final attacker with a deadly thrust.

Looking around at the blood-soaked scene, Arthur's eyes widened as he panted, "Where's Merlin?"

Lancelot froze, then immediately snapped back into his senses and started calling for Merlin, Arthur running past him and doing the same. As Lancelot was running past an old oak, he heard Arthur yell in a rage, "Merlin! What are you doing!" Lancelot ran to the spot and saw Merlin standing in the center of a clearing, Arthur standing in front of him with his sword raised in a guard against three hooded figures, each of whom had an odd sort of glow emanating from their palms.

_Magic_. Lancelot thought to himself. Merlin must have run off in the middle of the fight to confront the sorcerers. Lancelot hoped that Arthur hadn't run into Merlin while he was fighting the cloaked men; for Arthur to find out about Merlin's magic in such a way would be dangerous to both of them. From the looks of the expressions on the two it seemed he hadn't: Merlin looked annoyed and relieved at the same time while Arthur was busy focusing his defense on the three enemies.

"Sorcerers!" Arthur growled, still snarling at the three hooded men across the clearing. None of the men moved; they seemed to be almost keen to leave the battleground. One was slowly backing away while another was shaking visibly. Merlin just stared back at them, his mouth twitching at the corners trying to hold back a smile. Arthur began to move forward to attack, but just as he started towards them the three men ran from the clearing, yelling in fear as they did.

Confused, Arthur stood with his sword still drawn as he watched the men flee. He then turned to Merlin with a fiery expression on his face, the servant flinching at Arthur's glare.

"_What_, may I ask, compelled you to try to take on a group of _powerful magic-users_ by _yourself?_" Arthur fumed, his anger breaking though.

Merlin looked towards the ground as he said in a bit too high of a voice, "You know me Arthur, I was just hiding from the main battle as usual and just unfortunately managed to run into the-"

"You're lying, _Mer_lin, it's always easy to tell; you're like an open book," Arthur said, Merlin looking back at him again as Arthur continued, "I _heard_ you say 'I won't let you harm Arthur' and 'You can't get past me' to _a group of powerful magic users, _Merlin! Any one of those three could have torn apart with a single word!"

Merlin almost managed to stop himself from rolling his eyes, but unfortunately Arthur saw.

"Merlin, can't you be serious about something like this, for once? Why can't you understand that this sort of thing is what a knight does, and not… well not you?" Arthur said, hesitating to say the word servant as he now considered Merlin to be much more than just that. And Arthur didn't want his... _more-than-a-servant._.. to be torn apart by evil magic-users. It was hard enough as it is keeping the clumsy boy alive regularly let alone having him rush out like he was some amazing gladiator against people he clearly couldn't win against.

"Arthur, I was fine, trust me… I'm not as weak as you think I am…" Merlin said, giving Lancelot a quick glance. Lancelot just pursed his lips and stayed silent.

"You obviously haven't got a clue of what you can and can't handle!" Arthur shouted.

"I'm perfectly aware of what I can and can't handle, it's you who's confused!" Merlin shouted back.

"Merlin, even some excellent fighters can't fight against magic, and an untrained servant is just raw meat to a strong sorcerer!"

"So you're saying a prat like you can fight against magic?"

"_Well certainly an idiot like you can't!"_

Merlin just huffed and looked away, biting his tongue, but his silence didn't last long. Lancelot sighed as the three eventually started heading back to Camelot, birds flying from their roosts as the onslaught of insults continued from his other two companions.

oooOOOOooo

Lancelot was brought back to the present as Arthur groaned once more and started to pace around the room.

"It's almost unthinkable that Merlin could possibly think he could handle those three, it's lucky they chose to scamper at the last minute, who knows why," Arthur huffed, then said with a pained look in his eye, "I can't let him be killed for his own stupidity, Lancelot. He needs to know who he can fight and who he cannot, and that he should just leave the tough fights up to those who are trained to handle them."

Lancelot almost started to point out to the prince that he should follow his own advice and let those who can actually fight against magic be the ones to do it, but he stopped himself just in time.

Meanwhile, Gwaine had started compiling ideas for 'sorcery-like' appearances, the other knights contributing. As the discussion of hooded cloaks came up, Lancelot turned again to Arthur and asked:

"I'm still not sure exactly what this mission entails or what it has to do with Merlin… Sire."

Arthur coughed as a smile rose on his face. Gwaine looked over at them, smiling at some hidden joke with Arthur. A nasty suspicion started to worm its way into Lancelot's mind as Gwaine started to gambol over to him, leaving the other knights to talk about whether they should use a star-shaped pattern or cover the cloak with stripes.

"Weeeeell," Gwaine started, his voice airy in mock concern, "Poor Prince Arthur here is going to get a very scary letter from an equally scary sorcerer, detailing how Arthur needs to die and the sorcerer needs revenge and some other mad sorcerer things, and then will give a location in the forest outside of Camelot for Arthur to meet the sorcerer's challenge. Arthur needs to come, otherwise some terrible curse will be unleashed upon Camelot and everyone will be turned into badgers or something like that." Gwaine finished his speech merrily, Lancelot's nasty suspicion growing with Gwaine's smile.

"And I will just so happen to leave said letter on my table, unopened and with 'Death to Camelot' written on the envelope. And I will leave it there, in plain sight, just as a _certain servant_ comes to clean my room," Arthur added, looking just as happy about the plot as Gwaine.

"So you expect Merlin to pick up the letter… And see what he does? No doubt you think that it will seem kind of obvious to him?"

"Merlin isn't exactly the type to ignore obvious tricks, Lancelot. Or respect my personal privacy," Arthur said dryly.

Despite what Lancelot had said, he was sure Merlin would pick up the letter and read it. He knew Merlin wouldn't risk Arthur being attacked by magic; the warlock would definitely try to do something about it.

"But even if he _does_ pick up the letter," Lancelot said cautiously while Gwaine folded his arms, "you don't seriously think he would be _stupid_ enough to go alone to challenge…" Lancelot's voice died out as Arthur just looked at him with a stare saying that yes, Arthur did think Merlin was stupid enough. Lancelot grit his teeth as Arthur began to smile again.

"And when he is stupid enough to go into those parts of the woods to face made-up sorcerers, what will happen when he finds no one there?" Lancelot asked and looked back at Gwaine and Arthur.

It hit him right as he watched Arthur and Gwaine grin all the wider, Leon still attempting to chant a fake magic spell by twisting his arms back and forth while trying to avoid hitting Elyan, who was currently modeling a horrid, bright pink cloak.

Lancelot just stood there gaping while the stupidity of the plan overwhelmed him.

"Yes Lancelot, we will pretend be the 'evil sorcerers' attacking Camelot and confront Merlin in the woods," Arthur said determinedly.

"You can't… You can't be serious…" Lancelot finally managed to say, exasperation reaching a peak.

"We only mean to give him a good scare so that he doesn't try it again, Lance," Gwaine said consolingly.

"This is… You have no idea how terrible an idea this is…" Lancelot tried to say again and failing to impress upon the two exactly how bad the plan will go wrong. He couldn't exactly say that Merlin would crush them silly with a single word (or worse, light them all on flames and cause the plan to _literally_ backfire) if he actually thought they were hostile sorcerers.

Seeing Lancelot's panicked misgivings, Arthur wondered if he should have told the knight the plan. Surely Lancelot would understand why they needed to do this? Merlin needed to be taught a lesson (and also because it would be great fun, though Arthur kept quiet about this part.) And it's not like the knights were planning to _hurt _Merlin, just… rough him up a little bit so he gets the idea. And then show their true identities to Merlin, and laugh it all off afterwards (at the idiot's expense, of course.)

Arthur was sure from the look on Lancelot's face that he planned on tipping off Merlin about it.

_Well, if he's not going to keep quiet about it, we can still use him in the plan, albeit unconscious _Arthur pondered, looking over to Gwaine and trying to communicate to him through a smirk his devious plan for Lancelot. Gwaine looked back, a conniving smile forming on his face as he understood.

Lancelot unfortunately hadn't seen the covert exchange between the two, as he had been staring round at each of the knights now trying to practice chanting spells in their new, absurdly patterned cloaks. As Leon began to hop on one foot in a starred, speckled magenta cloak while the pink-robed Elyan tried to fake a throwing spell by having Percival leap away like a drunk fish every time Elyan hollered gibberish, Lancelot knew that the only hope Merlin had in keeping his secret safe would be the knights' _incredibly_ idiotic ideas of what sorcery was actually like.

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><p>.<p>

**So that's the end of Part 1, and I promise you that Arthur and his knights (sans Lancelot) won't be any less terrible at being powerful sorcerers. What will happen when they confront Merlin with their 'awe-dropping powers'? I didn't know whether I should've kept the lengthy bandit storyline in, but I thought I mineaswell leave it so I hope it's not too unnecessary. **

**Review please, and it'll help me feel motivated to get the story out sooner!**

**Again, thanks to those that reviewed/favorited/followed, I would normally thank you as usual but unfortunately my email deleted a lot of my fanfiction emails. I will probably continue to just thank instead of list names as I didn't exactly ask whether people wanted me to list there names or not. If you want me to mention you in a thank you, just lemme know and I'll write you down on a list :D**

**I hope you liked it!**


	6. Chapter 6: Sorcery is Serious Bsns, pt 2

**Disclaimer: I will own Merlin when the sun rises in the west and sets in the east... When the seas go dry and the mountains blow in the wind like leaves. In other words, I don't think I'll ever own Merlin :(**

**Note: I am so sorry for how late this chapter is! I wanted to get it to you much sooner, preferably last week, but I had a million graduations/graduation parties to go to as well as work. I am so sorry, I plan to get Part 3 (yes, there will be a part 3, it's going to be the fun part!) out to you by thursday or friday to make it up to you guys. Don't hurt me! I just wanted to get this part out to you guys so you had something to read while you waited. No worries, it should still be funny. I think. **

**Also, Game of Thrones was awesome. Nothing like a good fantasy series.**

**I hope you enjoy part 2 of major idiocy. **

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><p><strong>A Complete Idiot's Guide to Being an Evil Sorcerer, Part 2<strong>

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After all the preparations were done, Arthur knew that plan "Fainting Bird" would go well.

He and his knights spent hours compiling everything they knew to be true of sorcerers and how they would act and dress, and have planned out the perfect scare tactics to intimidate… no that's a bit of an understatement… to frighten the _neckerchief_ off Merlin. The ultimate plan being to have him so frightened that he faints, hence the name of the plan. Frighten, not harm, of course; as much as Arthur bullied Merlin it was always in good humor and he would never want Merlin to come to any harm.

_Of course, that's precisely why we're going through with the plan_ thought Arthur as he looked through some of the last-minute arrangements for his knights to transform into scary, demonic magic-users. Leon was carefully looking over his starred, magenta robes for any problems in the stitching, Elyan was gathering up the swords and Percival was desperately struggling into a too-small periwinkle-blue robe patterned with angry-faced clouds. Gwaine stepped forward to help him, already wearing his own robes of bottle-green adorned with shaky runes of an eye-scorching purple. Seeing one rune that looked suspiciously like a tankard, Arthur suspected the runes were probably hand-drawn by Gwaine himself.

Lancelot was on the side of the room, looking at the runes and the dramatic clouds on Gwaine's and Percival's robes and mirroring the clouds' sour expressions. Arthur hadn't gotten into his own robes yet, but he was glad that they didn't have such a ridiculous design on them; he couldn't blame Lancelot for looking so disdainfully at the robes.

Lucky for Lancelot though, he wouldn't be getting any robes. Or maybe not so lucky. Lancelot seemed to come to the same conclusion as Arthur noticed Lancelot become suspicious.

"There something the matter, Sir Lancelot?" Arthur asked, trying to hold Lancelot's attention while Gwaine quietly sidled over to Lancelot's blind spot.

Lancelot tore his gaze from the knights gamboling about in their various colored robes to look to the Prince with a careful eye. "Just wondering if I should be making my own robes by now, sire. I am a bit behind," Lancelot said with a forced smile.

"Well, I think we already have some nice ones for you, Sir Lancelot… Perhaps we should get you some orange robes, with a Griffin pattern?" Arthur said lightly, as he gave a quick signal to Gwaine.

Lancelot didn't even have time to hide his disgusted reaction to the idea of wearing such a thing when Gwaine suddenly flung his arms around Lancelot from behind and covered the unaware knight's mouth and nose with a cloth, smothering him. Within a couple seconds, Lancelot's eyes rolled back into his head and he fell limp in Gwaine's arms.

"And so we now have our lovely hostage all ready to go. Should I tie and gag him, sire?" Gwaine said, shamelessly flopping Lancelot around like some sort of doll.

"Yes, but be careful we don't want to actually hurt him," Arthur said, his order followed by Gwaine carrying Lancelot bridal style to another part of the room.

Arthur knew it wasn't out of dislike for Lancelot that Gwaine had been somewhat willing to knock out the dark-haired knight in such away; in fact, Arthur reckoned that it was completely the opposite. The more Gwaine poked fun at you and pranked you, the more the rowdy knight liked you. The exception being Merlin of course, as Gwaine regarded the boy almost like a mother hen would a chick.

Of course, this was the only time Gwaine had ever decided to fully prank Merlin; the Knight had said he wanted to just because he thought it would be funny, but Arthur knew that the sober part of Gwaine was seriously worried that Merlin lacked the necessary self-preservation skills and knowledge to survive. And he partially blamed Arthur for this. That was probably why Gwaine volunteered so eagerly for the mission, besides the fact that he always wanted to see what it was like to run around in wizard robes for a day.

Arthur didn't exactly want to knock Lancelot out either, he was one of the Prince's most trusted and loyal knights, but he left Arthur no choice. Lancelot obviously disapproved of the plan and Arthur couldn't afford to let him cue Merlin in on what they were doing; besides a 'hostage' would probably serve as an important trump card should Merlin need any… persuading.

Arthur knew that despite Merlin not being quite as battle-hardened as his knights- it seems like he's hiding behind trees even more often nowadays- the boy could summon bravery from seemingly nowhere in the toughest situations. The Prince had a nagging suspicion that even scared out of his wits Merlin wouldn't give himself in easily, and since Arthur wanted Merlin unharmed he knew that a hostage might help give the Prince Merlin's compliance due to Merlin's unwavering loyalty to his friends. Arthur knew it was a bit of a low blow, but at the same time he also knew that should Merlin actually come across dangerous men he should come to expect that they might fight Merlin using any means necessary.

"Sire, our preparations are complete," Leon said suddenly to Arthur, breaking the Prince's chain of thoughts. The prince looked over the knights' work and decided it was time to put his plan to the test.

"Very well then, you may leave for now. Wait until later in the afternoon for me to collect you all after I have finished 'Phase 1' of the mission. We will leave for the meeting point shortly after. In the meantime, try not to give anything away of the plan to anyone else, especially Merlin of course," Arthur ordered, his men dropping what they were doing at the time then bowing and heading out.

They all exited except for Gwaine, the knight staying because Arthur needed him for Phase 1. The rugged man sauntered over to Arthur as the other knights filed out of the room, his 'hostage' safely tucked away in a different room for now.

"And have you finished the scary letter, sire?" Gwaine asked, a crooked grin on his face.

"Not quite yet, I've got all the basics down but I just need some finishing touches," Arthur then moved over to a table to his left and picked up a yellowed piece of parchment. He held it out for Gwaine to read. Gwaine took the letter and unfolded it, his eyes scanning the paper as his brow furrowed in thought.

"Blah blah want to see the blood of Camelot run… Kill you and eat innocent children… Meet us or suffer magical castration…" Gwaine started quoting from the letter, then continued, "That seems to be fine, maybe a bit less threatening than I would've done – I could've added much better insults about you than this, of course – but you got the job done. Of course, you forgot one quintessential thing," Gwaine said, his hand stroking his short beard thoughtfully.

Arthur took the letter again from Gwaine, trying to spot what it was he missed while rereading it. He was sure the letter had plenty of evil in it. "What is it I've forgotten?" Arthur asked, finally.

"Your name! Your evil sorcerer's name, the name that makes men run in fear, children cry, women's bosoms fall out of their holdings - You forgot to sign the damn thing," Gwaine said waving his hands in exasperation at Arthur's obvious mistake.

Arthur let out a deep huff – he knew Gwaine was right. How could he have forgotten to _sign_ the damn thing? How would Merlin know who he was confronting?

_Well, he won't know that until the end anyways_ Arthur thought silently to himself.

"Alright so I'll sign it. Any ideas what the name should be?" Arthur said as he set the letter on the table and took out a quill and ink.

"Well, you will want to use some sort of magical sounding name, something like 'Tim' wouldn't do at all, would it?" Gwaine said.

"How about something like… Marcus? No… that wouldn't do…" Arthur said, biting the quill in concentration.

"No… It should be something magic-y sounding… A druid name would work perfectly… If only-" Gwaine stopped speaking as his eyes widened in epiphany. "I remember one, some guy at a bar was talking about this one sorcerer who all the druids speak of. He's the most powerful of any, from what he was telling me, though most people don't actually believe he exists," Gwaine said, his voice growing louder in excitement.

"Well he probably doesn't exist, otherwise he probably would've attacked Camelot by now," Arthur said, "but it seems like as good a name as any to use. What is he called?"

Gwaine took a moment before he spoke, his face growing dark as the tension rose. Arthur rolled his eyes at the knight's creepy manner.

"The guy was slightly inebriated, but he told me that the Druids call him by the name '_Emreesh_,'" Gwaine said, spookily whispering the last word for added effect, unable to hide his grin.

Arthur snorted, his brow furrowing as he smirked. "Emreesh? That doesn't sound that scary, it sounds like a _girl's_ name, and a weird one at that. In fact, are you sure this _Emreesh_ isn't a _sorceress_, Gwaine?"

"No, it was definitely a he, and I personally think the name is pretty scary sounding, sort of like an old superstition name like _Greyblood_ or _Candlejack_-"

"Well Emreesh just sounds like… I dunno… Like the invention of a complete drunk. Or a bird."

"Look, complain about it all you want princess, but Emreesh is a genuine druid name and we don't have anything else. So just sign the damn letter with his name, already."

"_Fine,_ Gwaine…" Arthur wrote the silly druid name on the bottom of the letter with a flourish, "There you go, all fleshed out and with a _scary signature from _Emreesh _himself._"

Gwaine took the letter and read over it for a second before folding it up saying, "Good. Then I shall take it to your room to leave on your table, for our dear, devoted servant to come pick it up unawares?"

Satisfied, Arthur nodded to him and Gwaine left with a "Sire," leaving Arthur to go over the plan a couple more times in his head, trying to think of any other possible scare tactics he hadn't thought of with his knights. He wondered if Merlin was afraid of spiders...

oooOOOooo

Merlin had the worst feeling of foreboding ever, and that was saying something because the other times his intuition acted up in warning he usually ended up in life-or-death situations, and this sense was worse. What could possibly be worse than fighting for his life and Camelot's well-being?

_Arthur's chores, actually _thought Merlin, groaning. He was sure that the dark feelings of anxiety had more to do with Arthur's growing list of chores than the usual list of threats to Camelot. Which, as Merlin noticed recently, has been a much shorter list of threats than usual. It's been a whole week since a run-in with anything that wants to harm him, Arthur, or all of Camelot; Merlin was almost _bored_ of his life's newfound peace. Probably because he knew it wouldn't last; the peace was most certainly taunting him and trying to get him to drop his guard. Still, Merlin didn't find peace in everything, especially not in his recently-strained relationship with Arthur.

Ever since the incident in the forest Arthur had been acting strangely towards Merlin, like the servant was about to attempt jumping off a tower or start a bar fight or something else reckless. Merlin was sick of Arthur acting protective – or, even more protective than usual (though Arthur would surely deny any claim that he actually _cared _about Merlin) – when Merlin was in fact the one doing most of the protecting. Merlin of course couldn't have told Arthur why he had confronted three dangerous sorcerers on his own, he didn't think "I was going to magically fling them all the way to Mercia" would go over well with the prince. Still, Merlin was sick of Arthur acting like the warlock had some sort of death wish.

As Merlin muttered a few choice insults about his favorite Prince, he made his way to Arthur's room. Arthur wasn't there, so Merlin let himself in, surprised at how clean the room actually was. Well, clean was the wrong word; Arthur's room was never clean so long as it was his, and Merlin set about to tidy it up as he noticed a yellowed envelope opened on the table bearing the script, "_Death to Camelot!"_

Sighing in a sort of _I-should-have-known-my-peace-wouldn't-last_ huff, Merlin picked up the envelope and pulled out the letter.

The Warlock's expression changed dramatically as he read the note; it started out serious and angry, then confused, then exasperated and slightly amused. Merlin stopped to think about the first part of the letter he read. The writer obviously had no idea how sorcerers usually worked; his various threats all involved using magic in completely impractical and ridiculous ways, each of which would be easily stopped if Merlin knew what they were, which he obviously did since the writer was kind enough to detail his nefarious plans in full. Still, Morgana and Morgause had some blaringly obvious plans before, but that made it no easier for Merlin to uncover them while trying to continue his "defenseless servant" role before Arthur.

The writer also mentioned other accomplices that planned on attacking Camelot with him, so Merlin had no choice but to continue reading the letter in the hopes that he could have a heads-up on how to stop them should he need to.

…_make Camelot pay in blood. Because we are evil. If you want to stop us, you must meet us in the forest tonight at the location given…_

Merlin looked at the description, he knew the clearing in the forest the letter was speaking about, he had been there plenty of times with Arthur hunting. Merlin continued to read the letter until a last part made him gasp.

_...and we will give you much pain, for we will magically castrate all of Camelot._

_The Great and Powerfully Evil Sorcerer,_

_Emreesh._

Merlin held the letter, his stare frozen at the last word. In normal circumstances Merlin would've been annoyed at how his 'other' name was butchered in print, but the fact that these enemies might know his hidden identity completely shocked and unsettled him. He was sure that only the druids knew his alternate name, how could neophyte sorcerers like these have come across it? Though the letter was addressed to Arthur, the warlock worried that the sorcerers may have put the name on there to lure him out.

Merlin tried to calm himself down and think rationally about this new turn of events. Sure, they may have known _about_ Emrys, but that doesn't mean that they knew that _Merlin himself_ was Emrys. Merlin hadn't received any magical things in the past week, or felt any spell directed towards him… The Author also used Emreesh as his own pen-name. It was somewhat safe to assume that the warlock's secret was still safe. Not to mention the slurred misspelling of his name; it sounded like they heard about his name from a drunk.

Merlin took deep breaths. "Calm down, they don't know you're Emrys…"

"Who's Emrys?" Merlin whipped around to see Arthur standing at the door, his body feeling like it had been electrified at the sight. The servant quickly hid the letter behind his back and tried to sneak it back into its envelope.

"E-Emrys? No idea… Sir…" Merlin stammered, avoiding Arthur's gaze.

Arthur sighed. Merlin didn't even pronounce the name right. He wondered how Merlin didn't notice the obviousness of his lies; the servant's attempt at trying to hide the letter he was reading was pretty pathetic. Still, Arthur was pleased to see Merlin breathing fast and shaking – the letter must have frightened him a good deal. But that probably wasn't enough to stop the idiot from running out to confront them.

"Were you cleaning in here, Merlin? The room seems barely any better…" Arthur said, trying to play along. Merlin shifted uncomfortably as he tried to ease back into his normal goofy demeanor.

"That's because you entered it, the room is aware of you and has started dirtying up your items _for_ you," Merlin quipped, his grin not completely hiding the wary look in his eyes.

"Wow Merlin, your insults are rather sub-par today – Is something bothering you?" Arthur asked, barely managing to hide his grin.

"No sire, noth-"

"Did I hear something about _Emreesh?" _a sly voice said suddenly, Gwaine's messy head popping up outside the open door behind Arthur, a grin on his face.

Merlin froze. Arthur grinned too at Gwaine, before turning around and saying a bit _too_ controlled, "Well I have been receiving threatening letters from this _Emreesh_ for a couple of days now, each detailing his ideas to bring harm to Camelot."

If Merlin was in a normal state of mind he would have noticed how odd Arthur sounded while relaying this line to Gwaine – _practiced_, almost – but Merlin's state of mind was currently nowhere near its usual standard, choosing instead to run around in frantic circles.

"You have… sire?" Merlin finally managed to speak, his voice sounding not unlike a strangled mouse.

"Yes… I have read these various letters and I assume that Emreesh is a very evil sorcerer… And he's got accomplices," Arthur said, trying his hardest to act concerned when in fact he just really wanted to laugh at Merlin's pale expression, "He wanted me to meet him tonight to confront him, but I think he is bluffing. I refuse to meet him, and I will fight him and his other evil sorcerers on my terms."

"Sire, I have heard of this Emreesh! He is one seriously bad dude," Gwaine said, forcing a serious expression over his grin, "I hear the druids all think he's the most powerful… would we really stand a chance against him? I am personally very frightened."

Merlin blanched and his face paled even more, Gwaine misreading his fear thought _Good, now he knows he's up against some seriously scary guy. _Gwaine turned again to Arthur as the Prince spoke again.

"Still, I don't think it worthwhile to meet him. Though I hope we can all fight him when the time comes," Arthur finished, the finality in his tone almost unable to hide his amusement. Still, if Merlin noticed anything odd he didn't say anything; the servant was still pale and tight-lipped as his eyes glazed over in deep thought. Gwaine, meanwhile, had pulled his head from the door and laughed silently outside the room.

"Merlin, you'll do well to stay away from them, they're too much for you to handle," Arthur said, starting to exit the room amidst Gwaine's soft sniggers, "and finish cleaning up this mess!"

Merlin gave no indication he heard the prince, he just stood there in deep contemplation as Arthur walked away from the room with Gwaine.

They wanted to meet Arthur tonight, and Arthur wasn't going to meet with them? While the letter _was_ ridiculous, Merlin still had a very bad feeling about it.

_I guess I'll just have to go confront them myself_ Merlin thought, _but I need for them to leave and never come back, before they give any hint of my identity away… How can I do that?_ _These sorcerers seem like novices… I bet they wouldn't be so daring in front of the _real _Emrys…_

He sighed. Merlin knew what he had to do, but he didn't like it.

_I'm just going to have to scare them so badly that they wouldn't dare cross me again_ Merlin finally concluded in his head, starting to sweep Arthur's dirty floor.

OooOOOooo

"That was pretty good, Arthur," Gwaine said smirking as soon as they were out of earshot of Merlin.

"Well it's not like Merlin would be keen enough to pick up on anything, and did you see how poorly he lied about opening the letter? I swear, he is such an idiot. And he looked so scared I thought he was going to faint just from reading it," Arthur said chuckling, his stride quickening.

Gwaine laughed alongside the Prince. "So that's the end of Phase 1 of Fainting Bird. You sure the bird is going to take the worm?" Gwaine said, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm sure of it, Gwaine, did you see his face? That's the look he makes when he's planning something, no matter how frightened he is. Gather all the knights and tell them to get their robes and packs ready," Arthur ordered his knight.

Gwaine whooped in excitement and bowed, walking in a different direction than Arthur to alert the knights to get ready.

_And so begins Phase 2 of Fainting Bird_, thought Arthur, walking to prepare his own hidden set of sorcerer's robes and practicing his evil sorcerer lingo inside his head.

_I just hope Merlin won't be _too_ frightened._

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><p><strong>.<strong>

**And so that's the end of Part 2, don't worry I've already got Part 3 all planned out and ready to go! Thanks again to all my readers and reviewers, if you want me to name you in thanks, don't hesitate to ask! **

**So did you spot the subtle Monty Python joke? (Ok, so maybe it wasn't that subtle now that I've said that...)**

**If you like it, Please read and review, it gives me relief to see that hours of staring at a glowing rectangle and typing furiously pay off. Because I love you guys. Ok I'm laying it on thick, aren't I? Still, I love reviews! :D**

**Winter is coming. **


	7. Chapter 7: Intermission

**A/N: I know you were waiting for part 3 of my last story as I said it was coming last friday, but I had no internet and my story is on a computer back home (full excuse listed below.) Sorry for the wait, and a pyre is being built for me as I type.**

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><p><strong>~Still I Know Him~<strong>

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Gwen didn't know what to do.

On the one hand, she loved Merlin. As a friend of course.

They had shared many a laugh poking fun at the various royals' dramas, shared the stress of looking out for those same royals, while at the same time trying to help Arthur get through his daily problems (most of which, Gwen had to admit, involved Merlin.)

She thought she could always be there to help her friend. She thought she could be there for him when he needed her the most.

But she wasn't prepared for this. No, never this, thought Gwen as she stared at the silhouette of Merlin's lanky frame standing protectively in front of her, a stark black against the crimson flames in front of him.

For she had just seen her best friend single-handedly wipe out an entire horde of bandits with nothing but a wave of his hand, the fire reflecting in his bright, golden eyes.

But he was still Merlin, wasn't he?

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><p>.<p>

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**Again, sorry for the wait. I had the chapter done by friday, but I can't upload it until I can hook up the computer with the chapter on it to an internet source (can't really retype it, don't really have the time thanks to my job.) Again, I hope this can tide you over and I will keep writing these short drabbles until I can finally upload the chapter.**

**Thanks so much to all my reviewers, I can't tell you how much my heart leaps when I see an email saying someone has favorited/watched/reviewed my story, I appreciate it more than you know.  
><strong>

**Review the drabble anyway? :D We don't get enough Gwen and Merlin stories, so I thought I'd throw one in there, since I think Gwen would be the most understanding of all if she found out about Merlin.**


	8. Chapter 8: Sorcery is Serious bsns, pt 3

**Ok so here it finally is, though I will warn you it's _really freaking long. _I'm talking, like, 27 pages long. So it's basically two chapters in one. Feel free to split them up in two though if you can't read it all. I promise it to be funny though. For those who haven't read the other parts, please do so before you read this one, you won't regret it! :D **

**/End rant, please enjoy!**

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><p><strong>A Complete Idiot's Guide to Being an Evil Sorcerer: The Third<strong>

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Part 1

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Merlin was having a bad day.

First, he couldn't even put Arthur's armor on right, causing the prince to insult him even more than usual. Of course the warlock was used to it; still Merlin was fed up with Arthur's strange attitude towards him lately. Second, he couldn't find his favorite neckerchief, opting instead for a blue one in place of his usual red.

Third, he had to find a way to scare a group of evil sorcerers so badly that they piss themselves by later this day.

It's not like Merlin was scared of confronting the sorcerers – it's not like he hadn't confronted powerful magic in the past, as annoying as powerful magic can be – it's just that the warlock was wary of what these sorcerers knew about him. The name _Emreesh_ kept bouncing around in his mind, reminding him that there may be more to these sorcerers than meets the eye, or at least an eye that has read through their violent (and somewhat ridiculous) letter.

Merlin just couldn't think of a good way to properly scare them. He would only hurt them if he had to; he figured he'd just try to talk them out of it before they attacked Camelot, a tactic that rarely worked but the warlock was set on trying anyway. He wouldn't give away that he used magic until the very last moment.

But still, if it came down to it, how would he frighten them? Merlin wasn't too good with the whole theatrics thing like Morgause; though he was strong he never thought of himself as particularly _intimidating_, just strong. And a lot of his strength came instinctively; it was hard to call on it at will. He usually used the more practical and subtle spells as he had to constantly hide under the royal prat's eye. Merlin supposed he could always summon some elemental form of magic, like the twister that he called forth in his own village, or the lightning that struck down Nimueh, but he hoped he wouldn't have to go that far.

Merlin was still preoccupied with choosing a magical intimidation method (_perhaps a giant glowing snake would work) _as he entered Gaius's room, the physician looking up from his current work on a frothing potion.

"Merlin! You're back after seeing Arthur through?" Gaius asked while glancing over Merlin to make sure he wasn't hurt anywhere. This had become a habit for the physician every time Merlin came back into his chambers as the boy was a magnet for trouble, not to mention extremely clumsy.

"Yes, the prat has finally gone off to slaughter more innocent things, giving me some free time. Do you need any more herbs today?" Merlin asked airily, his face carefully composed in what he hoped was an innocent expression. He didn't want to have to explain to the physician what he was doing; though he normally told the physician everything, he had a nagging feeling that this meeting would be a bit different than his usual conflicts with sorcerers, and he didn't want Gaius to be worried.

Gaius seemed to see through this, however. Merlin giving up his free time to do more chores? Gaius was suspicious. "Well I do actually need some, but… Is something the matter, Merlin?" Gaius asked, his tone wary.

"I just need to get outside, I feel stifled inside this castle all the time and with Arthur finally gone I figured I could have some time to myself _while_ helping you out," Merlin said cheerily. Gaius was still slightly suspicious, but he let it slide. He did need more wormswood, after all.

"Alright then, I'll give you a list of what I need. Just let me finish this remedy first," Gaius said, smiling at Merlin then turning to his work again.

"Sure, let me just pack up my stuff while I wait," Merlin said, relieved that his façade had worked. He slipped into his room and began to look around for things to pack.

In the end he decided on leaving his staff; he didn't want to have a dead giveaway from the beginning that he could use magic. Merlin shoved his magic book and a traveling coat in his bag, as well as a dagger and a few other things as he left his room to get Gaius's herb list.

Gaius handed the list to Merlin with his usual warning, "Be careful, Merlin. And don't do anything rash." Merlin just smiled and nodded at Gaius, his previous apprehension returning as he left through the door, almost tripping on the way out.

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><p>Meanwhile, Arthur and his knights were preparing for their "rendezvous" with Merlin at the forest clearing. After they each tied their horses to a different spot in the forest, they brought their packs to the clearing and Arthur began instructing them again on what they were going to do.<p>

"Alright men, as you know this is the most _important_ part of this whole mission: To make Merlin understand fear, and hopefully make him faint. To do this, we must be always in costume as the vile sorcerers we planned to be – you must disguise your voices and normal habits so that he does not realize who you truly are… Except for Lancelot of course," Arthur said while gazing over his knights expectantly, Gwaine busy pulling a certain unconscious knight out from the bag he carried on his horse. Lancelot's groan was muffled through his bondings as Gwaine started to drag him towards the trees on the side of the clearing, out of sight.

As they all started pulling on their respective robes, Arthur began to set the… well Arthur still didn't know what to call them. The smoke… starters? The tiny gray cubes were an invention of Elyan's that he developed during his time abroad. Arthur had never seen them work but Gwaine said they were quite amazing and that they would "set the scene for evil"… Then again Gwaine wasn't exactly sober when he brought up the idea of using the things during the knights' meeting.

"Arthur wait, you need to set them up the right way otherwise they'll go off prematurely," Elyan said, rushing over to Arthur and taking the cubes from him, then placing them upright on the ground. "Sire," Elyan added quickly in an afterthought. Arthur just rolled his eyes at the added formality and began to change into his robes.

The Prince looked around as his knights busied themselves about the clearing: Elyan laying the smoke starters in a circle around the clearing, Percival slathering black and red paint runes on the trees nearby at Gwaine's instruction, and Leon carefully laying oil around the parts of the clearing in a pattern. Arthur brought these knights with him for a reason; they were some of the most honorable men he had ever known and though his "title" didn't always hold up with them (Gwaine especially) he was inwardly glad that some of the rules and regulations of court could be dropped. Of course, Arthur had a hunch that Merlin's own disregard for respect towards those of higher rank may have worn off on his knights.

"Sire, the oil has been laid in the pattern you suggested," Leon said as Arthur surveyed the scene.

"Good. Alright then, Leon you can head out as watch for Merlin. We know what direction he'd be coming from." Leon complied and began to walk off to the outskirts of the clearing.

"And the rest of you, finish preparing then get in position," Arthur ordered the rest of his knights. Percival nodded silently and Elyan finished laying his smoke starters and began to put on his bright pink robes. Gwaine smiled cheekily and began blackening his eyes with the ink used on the trees.

Elyan looked over at Gwaine in confusion and amusement. "Why are you putting make-up on yourself, Gwaine?" Gwaine looked up with his eyes rimmed in black, the dark ink dripping down his cheek in a sort of spiked pattern.

"It's not _make-up_, Sir Pinkness, it's _druidic war paint_. They use it all the time as a scare tactic. I've seen one with it on once," Gwaine said snidely, checking the paint in the reflection on his sword.

"Whatever, I guess it does sort of look like something a dark magician would do, if they wanted to look like a bawling woman," Gwaine shrugged.

"Oy if I wanted to look like a woman I'd be wearing that girly pink dress of yours," Gwaine retorted, Elyan reddening.

"I've also been on raids and I've seen druids using bright colors! Bright colors in nature mean 'poisonous' and sorcerers are usually big nature lovers," Elyan said back chidingly.

"They also mean 'Here I am, please shoot me!'"

"Well obviously since I'm a sorcerer I have some spell or something that I can use to stop obvious threats! And besides, we as knights need to wear _bright red capes_ whenever we go on a mission."

"Which is something I wanted to talk to Princess about. With all the bandit attacks he can't pretend that a bright red cape is almost like a target to-"

Arthur interrupted Gwaine's rant, "I'm still here, _Sir_ Gwaine. The knight's colors have been a tradition in Camelot and also help as a show of strength-"

"And a show of practice dummies. Honestly, do you think we could have _some_ camouflage when we do missions? It's almost like we're running through the forest screaming 'Camelot is here! Attack us now!'" Gwaine said exasperatedly as he slipped into his green robes decorated with runes.

Arthur just sighed at Gwaine, thinking that he will give the rowdy knight some of the worst training when they get back to Camelot. Gwaine grinned back at Arthur, knowing exactly what the smirking prince was planning. He pulled a flask from his robes and took a swig from it as he went to go check on his hostage.

Meanwhile, Percival had already gotten into his robes and was practicing the 'flingy spell' (or so Gwaine called it) with Elyan. They had gotten much better at it; Elyan almost had the arm wriggle timed perfectly with Percival's jump onto his back. The bound Lancelot at the edge of the clearing groaned but fell back into unconsciousness as Gwaine hit him round the head again. "Sorry mate," Gwaine said, not seeming sorry at all and covering Lancelot up with leaves and dirt.

Arthur looked at the around the clearing - the oil, the smoke starters, the runes – everything seemed to be set up as planned. As Arthur smirked, he was sure that if everything _did_ go to plan, a normal man was likely to wet himself in fright. Of course, Merlin had the bravery of a knight and not of a normal man in stressful situations, though Arthur chalked that up to Merlin having less of a brain than the normal man.

But Arthur knew that if anything could scare him, it was five experienced and deadly sorcerers.

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><p>Merlin groaned as his horse trotted on through the forest's underbrush. He'd been riding for at least a couple hours now, and he was pretty sore from it. Still, he knew he had to keep going if he was going to meet "Emreesh" at the time specified.<p>

As he neared the clearing, he mentally went through a list of spells he may possibly need to use. A hearing spell, a transfiguration spell, a spell of strength, a shield spell… He had no idea what to expect so he tried to remember every combat magic he had learned.

_I hope they don't primarily use fire or electric spells, those are quite hard to stop, and I might be in a bad spot if they use that chain binding spell Morgause knows…_ Merlin kept going over the possibilities in his head, but he was still quite sure he could defeat their magic in a pinch – though he really wasn't looking forward to it. Strongest magician and instinctive magic aside, Merlin knew that he hadn't had nearly as many years studying various spells and combat as many other sorcerers, and hoped that he could be prepared for whatever the sorcerers came at him with.

Not to mention the fact that if he came back harmed he would need to make up an excuse for Arthur or the prat would probably spend another week nagging him about staying safe, all the while giving him even more chores to do.

Merlin snorted. He wondered what Arthur would think if he saw Merlin fight against the sorcerers. He was sure the prince would say something like _You do magic? Well you _can't _be very good at it…_ or _You're a sorcerer? And you came to _Camelot? _And I honestly didn't think you could be any more of an _idiot, _Merlin!_ Merlin snorted at the imaginary Arthur in his head. He so wished he could show Arthur _exactly_ how strong he was, without the clotpole tying him to a burning pillar that is.

Merlin sobered at the thought, Arthur wasn't likely to say any of those things; he was more likely to call Merlin evil or say that Merlin betrayed him…

_Don't think about that, he's a good man_ Merlin forced himself to think. As much as Merlin wanted to tell Arthur he had magic, he couldn't bring himself to reveal everything to Arthur just yet. Of course, Merlin was planning on revealing it bit by bit… First tell Arthur he had magic, see how he reacted… then explain the whole Emrys and strongest sorcerer and prophecy thing… then the dragonlord thing…

But of course, not the donkey laugh Merlin left as a remnant of the spell on him - that could stay secret. And poisoning Morgana would be tough to explain as well. Merlin cringed at the memory.

Yes, one day Merlin would tell Arthur, but not any time soon. Merlin continued his horse down the trail towards the clearing, hoping that his ideas to scare the sorcerers would work.

ooOOOoo

After about three more hours of traveling, Merlin had finally come close to the clearing. He dismounted his horse and tied it to a nearby tree. He rather liked the old bay horse; it was quite calm despite Merlin's less-than-coordinated riding skills. But he would rather it not be caught in the middle of a fiery wizard's battle, so he said goodbye to the horse as he began to walk in a direction towards the clearing, his heart pounding faster with each step.

As he neared the clearing he wondered if the sorcerers would have put up a watch guard. Merlin muttered a quick incantation for improved vision and hearing then continued to walk stealthily through the forest, scanning the scenery as he went. Thanks to a sneak spell he used earlier on himself, he walked much more quietly than he would have normally done.

Leon, in the meantime, was dutifully waiting behind a thicket, watching for Merlin. The meeting time was soon, and he had seen no sign of the servant. Leon began to worry.

As Merlin made his way to the clearing, he noticed a bright color among the forest growth – it seemed to be a man. He was well hidden – even the finest of Camelot would be hard-pressed to achieve this camouflage despite the odd coloring of his clothing. Merlin was sure he was one of the enemy's scouts. He began to sneak behind him very carefully, using his magic to muffle the sound.

Leon was still searching the forest for any sign of the clumsy manservant when he felt a blade tip on his back. Immediately the knight froze, his instinctive training kicking in, calculating every tiny detail of the blade and its holder.

"Stand up. Bring me to the sorcerers, if you are one of them," a voice commanded. And not just any voice, Leon recognized it as Merlin's voice, albeit controlled and threatening. Leon's shock interrupted his thought process.

_How had he gotten past my watch? I had been careful to have a key advantage point and I didn't hear _a single step _he made toward me! Where had this stealth been when he hunted with Arthur?_

Still confused, Leon weighed his options. On one hand, he could probably quickly disarm the servant and then hold _him_ with the knife – on the other, he could just comply with Merlin's wishes and take him to Arthur's set-up, as those were his instructions anyway and he knew Merlin was not a killer. Also, he had been lucky enough that the manservant had snuck up behind him (although Leon was quite abashed at this) and had not seen his face. If he turned around now, Merlin would recognize him under the hood and it would ruin the plan.

"I will take you to them," Leon replied as he stood up, trying to keep his voice as low as possible so as to hide his identity.

Merlin inwardly sighed in relief. He still wasn't too good at the threatening thing, but if the sorcerer bought it, he didn't show anything in his posture. Merlin had to commend the man for this, though it showed that this man was more experienced at combat and stealth than Merlin would have hoped after reading the abysmally written death-threat letter.

Another thing Merlin had to commend the man on was being able to hide so effectively _while wearing a starred magenta cloak._ Merlin had to hold back a laugh as he looked closer at the cloak. He wondered what kind of sorcerer would wear such a ridiculous thing, and whether the man felt like an idiot wearing it. Still, he could not quite read the man's emotions as they walked silently through the underbrush, Merlin's knife still pressed into the man's back, mumbling a specific spell for the captive under his breath.

Merlin just supposed the man was one of the more _eccentric _sorcerers. He just hoped he wasn't insane; those were the worst kind to deal with… The warlock hoped that this man would be the oddity of the group, and that the rest of the sorcerers would be reasonably dressed, perhaps in green hunting cloaks or leather armor... Insane sorcerers always tended to attack _everything_, and Merlin wanted to try to talk to them before a fight.

He wondered how a sorcerer in such a garish outfit could avoid the Camelot guards – though Merlin wasn't too surprised, Arthur didn't really quite _get_ how sorcerers really were, seeing mostly the flamboyant Morgause in her red dress instead of the smarter, more covert ones in plain clothing. Of course, Morgause didn't exactly need to hide herself, she was powerful enough to allow Arthur to know who she was and didn't need to hide.

Still, Arthur's ideas of what a sorcerer is like were none to accurate; Merlin remembered when Arthur and Gwaine were speculating about whether the more powerful sorcerers needed to urinate or not. Merlin nearly choked on the irony as he watched the debate; he couldn't say anything of course, but he came close when Gwaine suggested that they "magicked it to another dimension." To Merlin's dismay, Arthur seemed to deem that a reasonable idea, the idiot. It made it harder on Merlin when Arthur can't recognize threats properly, which he never seemed to do.

Remembering that Arthur thought _he_ was the one who couldn't recognize threats, Merlin grit his teeth as he walked with the magenta-clad sorcerer down the forest path. The man had been quiet the whole time, wondering how much he would be made fun of by his fellow knights once it was revealed that _Merlin_ had caught him by surprise.

Upon reaching the clearing, Leon said to Merlin, still in a deep voice, "We're here."

Merlin nodded then realized the man couldn't see this and said, "Alright. I don't plan to hurt you, but I will have to if you give me no choice." Leon nodded, knowing full well that Merlin would hesitate to actually hurt him, even if he was an enemy. Merlin glanced around once more then cautiously entered the clearing.

oooOOOooo

Part 2

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Upon entering the open space, Merlin noticed immediately that the trees were all painted with different symbols, each of which were drawn so shoddily Merlin wondered if the painter had had a heart attack while painting each one. It was almost as if the painter was trying to mimic magic runes, but decided halfway through that he'd rather just scribble on random objects, or that he was completely drunk. Some of the runes _almost_ looked like they could mean something in the Old Language, but Merlin was quite sure that the sorcerers didn't mean to smear words like _squirrel _and _tangerine_ on a trees…

Merlin was broken out of his reverie by a sudden snapping sound. As he quickly looked around the clearing he heard an extremely long and high-pitched, "eEeeeeEeeaaaaanaaaleeaaaaa!"

With Merlin's enhanced senses, the scream sounded like a dying cat. He quickly dropped the hearing spell and just focused on finding out where the bloody noise was coming from, when he realized smoke was quickly filling up the clearing. As the thick gray cloud neared him, Merlin quickly mumbled a spell to protect his face from the smoke.

Fortunately for Leon, as the cloud reached them, the smoke had provided him with a chance to escape Merlin's hold. He quickly twisted his body in a way that would disarm Merlin and release his own self, then picked up the knife and ran back to where he thought Gwaine would be.

_Unfortunately_for Leon, Merlin had planned for this ahead of time and used his tracking spell that he had placed earlier on his captive to find where it was the sorcerer was heading back to. This way he could find out the other sorcerer's positions.

However it was soon apparent to Merlin that he needn't have bothered to do so, as he could hear loud hacking coughs from several people nearby, right where Leon had run off to.

Dumbfounded, Merlin wondered if they planned on _choking themselves_ with the smoke. And what the hell was with that loud scream? What the sound and the smoke supposed to accomplish? Merlin remembered from a book he read that some sorcerers could summon a gas that could knock out people, but Merlin also remembered this gas being odorless and colorless, and not smoke. And _why_ wouldn't the sorcerers protect themselves from _their own damn smoke?_

What bothered Merlin the most was that he could not sense any magic use. He was sure he had seen no such invention create such voluminous smoke, but he had always been able to sense magic. A chill ran through Merlin. Were these sorcerers able to hide their magic from him? This would make them _extremely_ dangerous as Merlin relied on his ability to sense magic to protect Arthur…

Meanwhile, Gwaine and the rest of the knights were trying their hardest to stop choking.

"Curse it, Elyan! I can barely *cough* see thanks to these blasted things," Gwaine choked, groping through the air in order to see.

"Well *cough* the smoke should *cough* clear up soon, and I didn't realize they would be this *cough* potent!" Elyan whispered back, inbetween coughs.

"And what in the _world_ were you doing with _Merlin's knife to your back, _Leon? Don't tell me he actually managed to catch you?" Gwaine said, grinning despite the smoke.

"Quiet, the smoke's clearing up!" Leon snapped, reddening.

The knights all organized themselves in a line hastily then turned to look at the figure across the clearing as the smoke cleared away.

When Merlin finally had a chance to look at the robed figures in a line across the clearing, he couldn't help but gape flabbergasted at the sorcerer's appearances.

Compared to the rest of the robes, the Magenta starred robe looked almost _sensible. _One man was wearing what appeared to be a _bright pink_ robe, another, a sky-blue robe with clouds… And the clouds had _faces_ on them… And another sorcerer, wearing bottle-green robes which would have actually looked fine had they not had the same shoddy runes painted over them as on the trees. The man with the bottle green robes also had his face painted black around his eyes, making him look like a giddy raccoon. All in all, Merlin now thought that the Trickster's jester outfit was conservative compared to these ridiculous robes.

These sorcerers were definitely insane. There was no way they could wear such things and actually believe they looked intimidating – they all looked like gaudy street performers that had intoxicated tailors. Merlin fought a mad desire to laugh as he simply gaped, too dumbstruck for words.

Breaking the silence, Gwaine (or as Merlin thought of him at the moment, the raccoon one) stepped forward to speak, smirking at the fact that Merlin was too scared for words.

"Greetings, Merlin! I see you've found us. Once we are done with you, we will march on Camelot and destroy it!"

If this was supposed to shock Merlin it worked – but not in the way Gwaine expected. "I thought you were expecting Arthur?" Merlin asked, even more confused.

Leon trod on Gwaine's toes as Elyan said "Yes, we were, but we sensed you from a while ago and knew that Arthur had chosen not to come. His mistake, our evil power is not to be underestimated. But we will settle for torturing his servant."

Merlin didn't know whether to be wary or just laugh openly in their faces. On one hand, these sorcerers were extremely dangerous for being able to hide their magic from him, as he could not feel even an ounce of power from them. On the other, these men were all just imbeciles. Merlin wondered if Arthur would fall for their flashy tricks. However Merlin had had bad experiences because he underestimated sorcerers in the past, so he opted to keep his guard up.

"I can't let you bring harm to Camelot," Merlin said back to the raccoon sorcerer, sobering up and still extremely wary.

Gwaine sighed. He had hoped Merlin would give up in defeat by now, but it seemed that the servant was as obstinate as ever. "Then I shall summon the great Emreesh and you shall suffer at his hand, for he is the all powerful Emreesh that leads our evil cause!" Gwaine bellowed, pleased to see that Merlin had stiffened.

Gwaine gave an evil smile as he spread his legs in a wide stance on the ground. He began chanting "Hoomlasss, hoomlass inaassaaa.. Naiyasshinassa… HOom.. Hoom.." all the while swirling his arms in absurd windmill patterns and swaying back and forth at each "Hoom." The other knights all backed up from him, Percival quietly sneaking back to where he knew the oil was.

Merlin was again completely dumbfounded. What in the world was going on? Was this some sort of dance or song or something? Merlin had no idea what the robed man was doing, but he looked like a complete idiot.

Unable to quell his curiosity, Merlin asked incredulously, "What _are _you _doing?"_

"He is chanting a spell, peon, so that the Great Emreesh may appear!" The pink-robed knight stated proudly, "May you kneel in fear of his magic power!"

Merlin couldn't help it. He broke out in laughter as he watched the sorcerer sway back and forth. A _spell_? Merlin had never seen anything that looked less like a spell. The complete gibberish aside, this looked more like some outlandish mimic of an animal's mating call than an actual spell. He wondered if the man was drunk.

As Gwaine kept chanting Arthur prepared himself to arrive on scene, feeling bad that Merlin had been so scared he broke out into nervous laughter. But the servant had not given up, so he had to press on with the plan. "_Now, Percival!_" Arthur whispered to the blue robed knight from behind a tree.

Percival nodded then struck two rocks together, the sparks igniting the oil on the ground. Percival backed away as the fire spread, covering the ground where the knights had planned but no more.

Merlin had not seen Percival light the ground on fire, he had been too distracted by the fact that the rest of the 'sorcerers' had now joined in with Raccoon in the 'spell,' weaving their arms about like brightly-colored worms. As the fire spread, however, Merlin's sharp eyes quickly picked it up. Did this ridiculous spell actually _work_?

_Damn, I _hate _dealing with _fire _magic… It's the most annoying to dispel… _Merlin thought as he remembered the last time he fought Nimweh. He wasn't too keen on ending up with another burn scar.

As the spell built in volume, the fire grew in the back of them. Merlin began surreptitiously chanting his own protection spells around him, turning his head so that the glow of his eyes would not give him away. He still wanted the upper hand in the element of surprise.

Though it seemed that the fire did not spread to attack him, it just sort of lingered in the back of the sorcerers. Merlin wondered if they weren't going to use the fire to attack him, then why did they summon the flames in the first place? It was like the smoke, completely unnecessary…

Merlin's thoughts were interrupted as a figure stepped through a hole in the flames, a hood covering his face just like the rest of the sorcerers. Merlin figured this had to be Emreesh, as he watched the man step out among the others, his arms out wide, though he could still feel no magic from him.

The figure was too bright to look at in front of the flames, and Merlin felt his magic stir ready to protect him. Something about this man gave Merlin a sense of trepidation, a sense that this man was someone important… and the feeling that Merlin had met him before, though Merlin had no idea where or when.

Flames behind him, Arthur glanced over at Gwaine and his knights continuing the "spell." They looked pretty realistic to him, and looked over at Merlin to see his scared expression.

But Merlin wasn't scared; he was more wary and somewhat confused-looking. Arthur almost sighed in exasperation. An all-powerful sorcerer enters through a wall of fire, and this _idiot_ still thinks to fight? Arthur rolls his eyes under the hood. This is bravery to the point of stupidity.

"You dare stand between us and destroying Camelot, boy?" Arthur speaks in a low voice as he watched Merlin stiffen.

"I do not see anything so great about harming innocent people."

Arthur was taken aback by this, wondering how Merlin could be so daring in the face of such adversity. Still, the servant's expression was quite hilarious. The "evil sorcerers" around Arthur stopped their "spell-casting" and turned to Merlin.

"I can harm as many innocents as I like, for I am evil. And I will bring much pain to Camelot. I will use you to find out information about this _Prince Arthur_, and then I will dispose of you with an extremely powerful spell!" Arthur spoke, Merlin still watching him warily. Gwaine sniggered next to him.

"You will not bring harm to Camelot or Arthur. I won't let you. And I will not give you any information about him either," Merlin said, his voice shaking. He really wasn't so into this whole intimidation thing.

"Oh but you will, for no one can stop me!" Arthur said, enjoying himself, "and _you_ cannot escape, once I put a tracking spell on you! Heeyassinah!"

Merlin watched as "Emreesh" did a sort of hop and a skip followed by fast hand jiggling in his direction. Merlin, paralyzed again by the bizarreness of the action, just gaped at the man. He couldn't feel one bit of magic thrown at him, and was struck again by the stupidity of the situation.

"Was that supposed to be a _spell_? Do you people actually have _any_ idea what you're doing?" Merlin said exasperatedly.

Whatever Arthur had expected it wasn't this. "How would _you_ know what a _spell _looks like, _idiot?_" Arthur said, almost forgetting to lower his voice in equal exasperation.

"I know it's not supposed to look like you're a drunken five-year-old!" Merlin couldn't help but retort. He had enough of this, this whole mess… If these idiots wanted to cause trouble to Camelot he could probably just let Arthur handle them, they seemed to have no idea what they were doing. Merlin sighed. He knew he couldn't let that happen, these men _did_ seem like idiots, but then how could they have summoned the smoke? And hide their magic from him?

Arthur wanted to strangle the idiot. Why on earth would Merlin attempt to further infuriate an enemy like this? Had he no sense of self-protection? "You insult to hide your fear, but you cannot feel the magic I am weaving, for it is stronger than any you know! I have studied directly under the strongest druids in order to obtain this power! And I will use it to destroy Camelot!"

Merlin opened his mouth to explain that the druids would probably rather die than practice magic in such an idiotic fashion but stopped as he looked more closely at "Emreesh." The fire had died away, revealing the man to be clad in splendid robes of green and silver embroidered with patterns of leaves. Merlin recognized these robes; he had seen them illustrated in his magic book – they were magic-enhancing robes of the Old Religion.

Merlin instinctively threw up an invisible shield around himself, again closing his eyes and turning away so as to hide the spell while he could. This man must be dangerous, and his antics with the other sorcerers were probably to lower Merlin's guard. Perhaps he already knew Merlin had magic? And where had the man gotten the robes? They were obviously robes of a powerful magic origin…

Merlin looked back at the man as the man jabbered on about "revenge" and "evil powers" as Merlin looked even more carefully at the robes. And then something hit him. As he gazed at the fine fabric, Merlin remembered that these robes had a specific use.

The robes were _fertility robes, _used for virgin druid females. And they could only be worn _by a virgin._

A loud guffaw escaped Merlin as he began to laugh in hysterics. Arthur looked back at the servant thunderstruck. At first the idiot was looking completely shocked and then frightened, and now he is _laughing?_ Did he scare him so badly that he snapped?

"What is so funny, you laugh at Camelot's impending demise?" Arthur screamed, completely at a loss for the servant's sudden outburst. His knights all looked at each other completely confused, Gwaine almost looking like he wanted to go and calm Merlin down.

"You... are... haa... wearing… hahaa… Oh you are so.. haha.. _stupid…_" Merlin gasped in-between laughter, clutching his sides. He couldn't help but wish Arthur were here to see this. It was just too hilarious.

Arthur, completely nonplussed, just stood in confusion. What on earth was Merlin talking about? Surely the moron couldn't hope to _laugh_ his enemies to death?

Meanwhile, Percival and Elyan began to start their own part of the plan, hoping to bring Merlin out of his fit.

"Ewan, bring me some water!" Percival said to Elyan, not bothering to mask his voice as nobody had really ever heard it too well.

"Saleh you ingrate, bring water for Emreesh as he is tired! We do not take kindly to demands, fool!" Elyan shouted back, his voice sounding rehearsed. Percival growled then charged at Elyan.

Merlin's laughter somewhat died down as he watched this new development. As the cloud-robed man got closer to the pink one, the pink one began chanting again, if you would call arm wriggling and hissing chanting. Then the Pink-robed knight flicked his arms in an upward arc and howled some more gibberish. The cloud-robed man then jumped backwards and landed on the soft earth a couple feet away.

Merlin couldn't stand it anymore. He broke out in laughter again and fell to the floor, completely lost for words. It seemed these idiots hadn't the slightest clue of how to actually use magic, or even how to act like they knew it.

Arthur, wondering how in the hell that hadn't managed to break Merlin's laughing fit, motioned for Gwaine to go and get the hostage. Merlin's laughter abruptly turned into a shocked gasp as he saw Lancelot dragged out into the clearing, bound in robes and starting to wake. Lancelot looked groggily around, trying to free himself from his bonds. How on earth had he gotten here? When did someone-

Lancelot groaned. The last thing he remembered was talking to Arthur and Gwaine about mission "Fainting Bird." He looked up and saw the culprits grinning down at him in their various brightly colored robes, the gag stopping Lancelot's curses. He should have known. As Lancelot looked desperately around the clearing his eyes settled upon Merlin, the warlock's expression tense and angry.

Lancelot's eyes widened his panic, what if Merlin gave himself away to Arthur? Of course Merlin wouldn't fall for their ridiculous antics, but Merlin looked completely enraged at Lancelot's captors. Lancelot desperately tried to communicate to Merlin the truth of the situation - that the men in the cloaks were actually Arthur and his knights - but the warlock seemed to take his frantic signals as further warning against the men.

Merlin could not stand to watch Lancelot struggle against his bonds. How on earth had these men caught him? This fake sorcery must be an act, there's no way they could've gotten into Camelot unnoticed, past Merlin's senses _and_ grab _Lancelot_, whom Merlin had placed various anti-magic spells on. Merlin now knew that he could no longer judge these men by their novice appearance; he would have to finally do what he came here to do – show them that they could not win a battle of magic. Though he still really didn't want to do the whole intimidation-thing.

"Let him go, he has done nothing to harm you!" Merlin shouted desperately at the cloaked man holding his friend, Lancelot still giving him that frantic, fearful warning look from his bondings.

"Then bow, bow to Emreesh so that he may spare your worthless life, for he is the strongest there is and _you_, a mere _servant_, cannot hope to ever defeat him! Bow, and we will spare both your lives and then march on Camelot to achieve our victory over those who defy us!" the raccoon screamed, the hint of regret in his voice unnoticed by Merlin. The other sorcerer's faces were unreadable.

Merlin decided it was time to quit fooling around. He wasn't getting anywhere with these idiots, and his tolerance for them was extremely close to snapping at the sight of his friend struggling against his bonds. His magic moved restlessly inside of him, itching to help Lancelot and take care of these ridiculous sorcerers.

"Enough," Merlin spoke in an ominous whisper, his voice laced with icy resignation and threat and his eyes covered with shadow. He took a step forward towards the cloaked men.

Arthur and his knights could not help but feel the sudden chill that these words brought. As Merlin stepped forward, calm and yet completely enraged, Arthur stepped back in confusion. He could not believe the transformation from his gentle, goofy, and clumsy servant to this new (and should Arthur say, _almost_ intimidating) infuriated and serious version of Merlin. His knights were also looking at Merlin in a cautious way; none of them had seen this side of Merlin before, even Gwaine's smile slipped somewhat, holding Lancelot tighter as the knight struggled even more desperately against the ropes holding him.

The moment soon passed, however, and Arthur knew it was now or never to "attack" Merlin and get him to comply. He motioned to his knights as they all drew their swords. He hoped Merlin would stop at the sight, give up, and plead for Arthur to please not hurt him or at least _give in like any sane person would do_, but the servant just kept walking slowly towards the armed men, completely ignoring the shining blades like they were no more a threat than the flowers nearby.

But Arthur had to make Merlin see the threat. He had to impress upon him that yes, swords are sharp, and _yes_, you should avoid them. He was going to end this mission.

Merlin had to understand that he could not win this battle.

As Merlin stopped just a knife's throw away, Arthur grit his teeth and gave the order to Leon and Elyan to begin to attack. Quick as a flash, the two rushed to Merlin, forgoing to fake spells and opting instead for their swords.

Arthur knew it was over then – he knew his two knights would stop their blades just as they reached Merlin, and then Arthur would be able to pull down his hood and explain to Mer-

A bright flash erupted exactly as the knight's swords swung down onto Merlin, interrupting Arthur's thoughts with shock as the two ripped through the air past him and slamming into trees, the force of the blast causing the wood to crack. Elyan and Leon slid down from the trees and slumped into unconsciousness.

Arthur's muddled thoughts desperately tried to arrange themselves as he looked at two of his best knights on the ground. _What in the hell just happened? _Arthur thought, pulling out his own sword as Gwaine and Percival tensed, just as confused. Lancelot was trying even more desperately to escape his bonds.

"Don't worry, they're not dead. I won't kill any of you, but you cannot defeat me," Merlin said as he stepped forward, still ignoring the swords.

"I… Where did that… How…" Arthur managed to sputter, his instincts screaming at him that there was a dangerous foe nearby, "You cannot hope to beat us! You're just a servant!"

"No, Emreesh… I'm not… And by the way, it's not pronounced Emreesh, it's pronounced _Emrys_," Merlin said softly, looking up at Arthur. Gwaine's eyes widened in understanding and looked down at Lancelot, who looked back up at Gwaine, a silent thought passing between the two.

Arthur felt that he was missing something important, that there was something he didn't understand that would clear the confusion up. Something he had thought of but wanted to deny.

"How on earth do you know?" Arthur asked, his voice unsteady and his sword still pointed towards Merlin. Arthur had not noticed that Gwaine was furiously trying to undo Lancelot's bindings, the knight struggling all the more. But Merlin did not see this either.

Merlin glared at Arthur, Arthur's instincts still warning him _Danger!_ Arthur had a sick sense of foreboding before Merlin said, in a deathly whisper, "Because _I _am Emrys."

As soon as he said this, Merlin's eyes lit up with a bright gold and a deep, fiery-yellow aura swirled around him, causing a wind to swirl viciously around the clearing.

"_I_ am Emrys, prophesized by the druids to be the strongest warlock to ever live," Merlin said over the roar of the wind. He vaguely wondered if he was overdoing it, but at this point he didn't really care.

Arthur and his knights struggled desperately against the fierce wind as he watched in awe and rage. The prince was so shocked by this revelation that he couldn't think straight as he watched his servant, no, his _friend_, enveloped by the golden aura, his eyes aflame. Merlin, using magic? It just didn't make sense. Merlin wasn't evil. He couldn't be a magic-user. Arthur felt numb. But here it was, proof that he was a sorcerer, and a _strong_ one at that. Arthur felt sickened at the idea of his goofy, smiling servant, transformed into a dark and evil sorcerer.

"It is my destiny to protect Prince Arthur so that he may become the greatest king Camelot has ever had, and I will not let you harm him or any of Camelot's innocents," Merlin said strongly, the wind whipping his traveling cloak around him. Lancelot was almost out of his bonds, Gwaine all the more furiously trying to cut him loose.

Ok, now that didn't make _any _sense. Arthur's head spun as he tried to think about what Merlin had just said. _Why would a sorcerer try to protect me and Camelot? I know _Merlin _would, but..._ Arthur clutched a pain in his chest, completely confused. What on earth was he supposed to think? His head hurt.

"And now I will finish this with a real spell… I will not kill you, but you will not mess with me or Camelot again," Merlin said, his voice echoing loudly over the wind.

"_Tân, dangoswch eich grym ffyrnig…"_ Merlin began to chant, his aura concentrating around his hands as a great shape of fire loomed over him, twisting sinisterly into the shape of a dragon. Arthur could feel the heat from the flames as the dragon opened its maw and gave a great roar, wings of flame spreading out over the warlock, the earth rumbling from the sheer power of the spell.

What. The _hell._ Arthur's overloaded brain could only think this one thought.

Just as Merlin was about to finish the spell however, Lancelot began to ran towards him, free from his bonds. Merlin paused, looking at Lancelot in confusion. Lancelot didn't seem to be too surprised at Merlin's magic, Arthur noted dimly. But Arthur, fearful for Lancelot's safety, shouted "Lancelot, come back!"

Lancelot gave no notice of Arthur's desperate warnings, however, and continued to run up towards Merlin, looking completely infuriated. As he reached the warlock, he then did something completely irrational.

Completely ignoring the fiery dragon above him, Lancelot angrily hit Merlin on the head, causing the warlock to flinch and say "ow!" The golden aura surrounding him completely disappeared, along with the dragon.

"Lancelot, what in the hell are you-"

"MERLIN YOU _**IDIOT**_, ARE YOU COMPLETELY _**INSANE**__?" _Lancelot shouted at Merlin as the servant rubbed his head, completely confused and cowering at the knight's rage. This would have been funny to Arthur had his brain not currently felt like spun porridge. And if he wasn't extremely mad.

"Lancelot, I just _saved you_ from-" but Merlin was interrupted by Lancelot's shouts.

"NO YOU _IDIOT,_ DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHO YOU JUST ATTACKED? " Lancelot screamed, still louder. Arthur began to walk towards them, past the unconscious Leon and Elyan, along with Gwaine, who seemed to be overcome by a grin.

"I _assume_ it was a bunch of idiotic-"

"YOU NEARLY JUST ROASTED THE CROWN PRINCE OF CAMELOT AND HIS KNIGHTS!"

At this outburst, Merlin froze. He was now as confused as Arthur, who he looked over to. Arthur pulled down his hood as Merlin gasped, blanching at Arthur's fiery glare. It was almost as if Arthur's glare was more intense than the conjured flame dragon from the look of fear on the warlock's face.

Merlin felt his insides disappear as he looked at Arthur's enraged face. Arthur... he saw... he saw him do magic... and _serious _magic no doubt... Arthur was going to _murder_ him…

Merlin's vision blackened, and he promptly passed out. Arthur just stood, dumbfounded and even angrier than before.

Here Merlin was, an extremely powerful sorcerer that could have wiped them all out with a few words, and the idiot _passes out at the sight of him?_ When all Arthur wanted to do was rage and kick at Merlin for being such a monumental _idiot._ And what the hell was all this "protect Arthur" gibberish? Arthur was too exasperated at Merlin to think clearly. As his mind continued its confused ramblings, Gwaine just guffawed loudly.

"And we thought we could scare _him_ with our awesome sorcery powers? What in the hell were we thinkin'? Haha aw man it's just too much, no wonder the poor sod was laughing at us so hard," Gwaine said, still laughing. Arthur just groaned at his headache and Lancelot looked around awkwardly.

"But hey, we managed to complete our mission, Merlin actually _did_ end up fainting…"

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><p><em>Tân, dangoswch eich grym ffyrnig… - Welsh for Fire, show them your fierce power<em>

**And so ends part 3 of this complete idiocy, I hope Arthur learned his lesson.. Though probably not since his brains are probably still scrambled. And poor Merlin, after getting away with the last flashy magic he did near Arthur (the tornado, I mean jeez that's so ridiculously obvious) he summoned something else terrible.. Ah I'm so mean to my characters. Well, not as mean as all you whumpers out there, but I could whump! people if I wanted to.. **

**Anyways, I hope you like this last part! I mean, I intend to leave it as a last part unless people really want another one, but for now I'm glad where it's at (I MEAN JEEZ IT'S LIKE 30 PAGES SO MUCH WRITING) **

**Oh and I apologize to all the grammar nazis out there, I'm sure there's plenty of errors in that big block of words.**

**Thank you so much to everyone who alerted/favorited/REVIEWED, I love you all, my sun and stars (still pining over Game of Thrones.) Thank you so much!**

**I worked pretty hard to finish this, so won't you pretty please review and let me know how you feel? Loved it, hated it, whatever, I get a giant smile on my face every time I see the review email in my inbox! I'll pretend to be Merlin and give you virtual hugs, since my cookies are usually abominations. ****I'm gonna take a break now. Wow, I wonder what the sun looks like after all this time?**


	9. Chapter 9: Sorcery is Serious Bsns, pt 4

**A/N: I wasn't sure if I should finish this fic or not, or if I even could with all my schoolwork and whatnot, but you reviewers really brought me to my senses and inspired me to pick up the keyboard again, so thanks to those who pushed me, such as Jane Mays! This is an OPTIONAL continuation, the story is fine ended on part 3 and you can choose to follow through this part or not!**

** For those of you who are just joining us, I would suggest you read the previous chapters to this tale, as this chapter will make much more sense with them. No slash, unless you want there to be. Have fun reading!  
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><p><strong>A Complete Idiot's Guide to Being an Evil Sorcerer: Part 4<strong>

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The sun's rays washed over the clearing in the forest, growing dimmer as the day moved on toward the night, the birds in the forest quieting and the nocturnal preparing for the hunt. Arthur and his men sat silent in the clearing, each unsure of what to do next, the setting sun throwing a harsh red light over them. Only three were awake, the other three were unconscious, one of which who was responsible for the other two's insensibility.

Arthur stared at that one, thoughts racing through his mind as the wind ruffled the man's raven locks. Arthur gave a deep sigh as confused words chased his mind in circles, wishing he could just make sense of it all. The thoughts were all the same, over and over again, he didn't know what to feel- anger? Hatred? Sadness? Relief? None of these emotions made sense with what he was feeling, or perhaps they all did.

Merlin, his servant, a sorcerer. Merlin, the idiot, the clotpole, his enemy, his _friend_-

-Emrys.

The word came unbidden into Arthur's mind, though he wished it would just go away. It just didn't make sense with the constantly grinning, happy-go-lucky servant that rose in his mind every time he thought of Merlin, the defiant servant with a short tongue-

-Enshrouded by a magnificent cloud of fire, the flames leaping about his frame in the form of a dragon-

Arthur moaned angrily as he dropped his head once again in confusion and anger, his hands rigid as he fought to keep control of his emotions. Arthur had switched to his normal traveling clothes and armor instead of his robes, though the other knights had remained in their sorcerer attire, still unsure as to what to do next. Gwaine and Lancelot watched the prince's display in trepidation, remaining quiet so as to give the prince some time to think. Gwaine looked over at Lancelot, who was resting his chin on his hands, his brow furrowed in deep thought.

There were many questions Gwaine wanted to ask Lancelot, the very first being how he knew of Merlin's magic, however he did not want to interrupt the stark silence so soon. Gwaine had found the entire thing quite entertaining at first – the powerful display of Merlin's was quite a sight, even somewhat _frightening_ – however now he wasn't so light-hearted. If Arthur couldn't accept Merlin's magic, then what would happen? Could the prince possibly turn the boy in to his father, to a fate of ravenous flames on the pyre? Or perhaps he would simply send Merlin away, banish him from Camelot never to return? Gwaine couldn't imagine a Camelot without that grinning, cheeky servant- certainly not a fun one.

Gwaine lifted his head slightly to glance over at his fellow knight, Lancelot still with his brow furrowed and his deep brown eyes focused at nothing. Gwaine was sure Lancelot had the same questions turning over in his mind, and could see a glint of determination showing on the knight's face.

Gwaine was sure that Lancelot would do anything to keep Merlin alive, even if it meant defying Arthur. Merlin's value as a friend to the knight was clear; Lancelot was true to Arthur more than any other knight of the Round Table, and yet was still willing to go so far to protect Merlin. As Gwaine watched Lancelot, the ruffian decided that he too would try to protect Merlin if possible. Because no matter what sort of magic Merlin had, he was still Merlin. Merlin was his friend.

And yet somewhere deep down, the terror that had risen from the sight of Merlin's spell was still there.

Gwaine hated it, hated to think that he could be afraid of his best friend, but unbidden thoughts rose in his mind like shadowy tendrils of smoke… Why hadn't Merlin told him of his magic? Surely he thought Gwaine could have understood? What if Merlin truly had fooled them all? Could he really be this Emrys, could he be evil? Gwaine tried to shake his thoughts of such ideas, but they clung on like a parasite, sucking the warmth from the night around him.

Gwaine was sure the same dark thoughts had been rushing through Arthur's head, probably even more magnified than his own deep fear. As Gwaine looked at the Prince's troubled face, the clear blue eyes that had frozen over in pain and anger, Gwaine wondered just how much Arthur believed in his father's decree that magic could only ever be evil.

The two other knights began to stir, interrupting the men's thoughts. Arthur looked over to his knights to make sure they weren't hurt (by Merlin? Arthur thought) too badly. As Sir Leon and Elyan sat up, groaning, the latter asked "Eghh.. What happened? We were chasing after Merlin and then-"

Lancelot opened his mouth to answer when the two knights suddenly remembered the events prior to them falling; Leon gasping and Elyan exclaiming "Merlin! He had magic!"

Arthur's face darkened as he turned away, dully noting that his knights bore very little injuries. Again his mind raced around frantically, if Merlin was evil, he wouldn't have been so kind to his enemies, but Merlin couldn't be evil, Arthur could still remember those sapphire blue eyes sparkling with happiness as his mouth widened into his normal toothy grin-

-the eyes filling with an unearthly gold, cold and unyielding-

Arthur again looked over at his manservant, once again wondering if the whole thing had been a dream, wishing he could just have his old friend back. It was certainly easy to imagine, looking at the innocent face of his manservant sleeping… Or of Emrys sleeping? He couldn't bear the thought of Merlin being a sorcerer, being evil, or lying to him, but he almost wanted to believe it just to be done with the confusion and pain. Then he would only have to deal with the anger, and that was much easier to feel than the more vile feelings writhing in his gut. But he couldn't even do that, because of those words spoken by Merlin; words from his memory that rang out more clearly than even the forest around him:

"_It is my destiny to protect Prince Arthur so that he may become the greatest king Camelot has ever had, and I will not let you harm him or any of Camelot's innocents." _

These words filled Arthur with a warmth he could almost feel, a light feeling in his heart he could only wish would drive away the dark, that light he had come to attribute to Merlin's happy grin. Could Merlin really have meant what he said? Arthur could almost feel bliss at these words were it not for the other sinister feelings crawling in his gut, spewing the words _betrayal_ and _evil_ and _liar_, as if the depraved worms craved to devour the only light he had left. Arthur barely registered the other knight's talk of the events that had transpired.

"Merlin… By Camelot, who'd have thought…" started Leon, rubbing his head as he became more aware of his surroundings.

" I just still can't believe it.. Could he possibly be evil? He even said he was _Emrys_," stated Elyan, his dark eyes locked in confusion.

"Could he be Emrys? I mean, it's certainly very possible with the amount of power he has shown," said Leon, "I mean, that fire spell was truly frightening." Leon looked down, his eyes clouded with an old sort of wariness. Percival stayed silent, looking over at the young servant with an unreadable expression on his face.

"It may have been, but it was Merlin we're talking about here mates, and I just can't imagine him being evil…" challenged Gwaine, throwing his hair back as he leaned forward to talk. Lancelot in the mean time had begun to silently set up camp, noticing the gathering twilight.

"We couldn't have imagined him to be a _sorcerer _either though, could we have?" argued Percival, still looking at Merlin.

"And you can't deny that spell wasn't fearsome, Gwaine… In all my life I have never seen a spell so powerful before," Leon spoke quietly, he too looking over at the peaceful face of the warlock in question. Merlin had grown on Leon, just like he had on all the other knights – it was almost impossible to think of him as a threat, and possibly even malevolent. Almost, if it hadn't been for those startling gold eyes…

Arthur looked over his knights in slight surprise at this, for though he was angry and hurt at Merlin's display of magic, he wasn't frightened by it. As he thought more on this, he wondered why that was – anyone would be afraid of Merlin's display of magic, it _was_ a very powerful spell, just as Leon had said. He was sure the power of the flame dragon could be comparable to the real thing. And yet Arthur _wasn't_ afraid when the dragon roared to life, when the wings of flame erupted into the sky and a terrible roar was let loose from the beast's maw – Arthur wasn't afraid. Why was that?

Perhaps Arthur had known deep down Merlin's magic wouldn't have hurt him?

As this idea dawned on Arthur, he looked over to Lancelot, the one knight who hadn't been surprised by Merlin's revelation. Interrupting his men's discussion, Arthur directed his next statement towards Lancelot, who had been setting up a fire for the knights and prince.

"You knew Merlin was a sorcerer."

Lancelot looked up warily from his task, his eyes defiant though humble towards his prince.

"Aye, sire," he stated simply, the other knights stopping their exchange to listen.

"How did you find out?" Arthur asked quietly, completely focused on the dark-haired knight, trying to keep his voice as level as possible.

"The day we fought the Griffin sire, I wasn't the one to defeat it. It was Merlin who enchanted my spear to kill the beast," Lancelot said, his loyalty to both Merlin and Arthur clear in his tone, "to protect you, sire."

Again, Arthur's confusion took over. He wanted to ask Lancelot more questions, but he knew the only one who could truly calm his confusion was still out cold. The knights looked over at Lancelot, unsure whether they should continue the discussion or not. Arthur sighed and pinched the bridge of his noise, trying to settle his emotions in front of his men.

After some time, Arthur spoke to the knights:

"We need to set up camp. Sir Lancelot has already started the fire, Sir Leon and Sir Elyan, find us something to eat, and Sir Gwaine can gather more firewood." At this his knights nodded obediently and began their various assignments, each sparing a glance towards Merlin before heading off.

Arthur set about to help ready the cooking pot when he noticed Merlin stirring out of the corner of his eye. _About time_ he thought, before remembering just how angry he was towards the boy, not to mention how many questions he had. Lancelot had noticed this, and decided to quietly attend to the fire as before, watching the prince nervously. _If he had intended to kill Merlin, _Lancelot thought, _he would have already done so._ Still, Lancelot readied himself for the worst.

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><p>As Merlin opened his eyes, he noticed that his head hurt quite a bit. He could see the fading sunset through the trees, the glow of the fire lighting up the space around what looked like a camp.<p>

_I must've done something clumsy again and knocked myself out, Prince Prat isn't going to be too pleased _Merlin thought as he sat up on the forest floor, dusting some leaves out of his hair and off his shirt. Merlin was trying to remember exactly what had happened – he remembered riding through the forest but not with Arthur and his knights – when he noticed the Prince walking towards him, a very angry expression on his face.

Merlin began to smile as he thought of the insults the prince would throw his way about whatever clumsy thing he did to knock himself out, when he actually looked more clearly at the Prince's expression. Arthur was livid, his face twisted in dark anger and his eyes of the coldest blue. Merlin froze at the Prince's gaze, his heart hammering out of his chest as he slowly began to remember the events before.

He had used magic. And not just a simple levitating spell, or some basic healing magic; he had used a very powerful spell. A bloody _flame dragon_ for crying out loud, he had summoned one of the most frightening spells in his repertoire all for the sake of scaring away false sorcerers – sorcerers who weren't even magic users, but Arthur and the knights themselves, trying to frighten _him!_ And Merlin had blown his cover _spectacularly_ in front of them all, and perhaps shown Arthur once and for all that magic was dangerous and not to be trusted!

Merlin would have hit himself had it not been for Arthur, who looked like he wanted to hit him even more so. Or, as Merlin dreaded to think, maybe even kill him. Merlin couldn't even move as Arthur glared at him, his mind's excuses tripping over one another and his mouth falling open in a comical O.

"So Emrys. It appears you have magic; that you are a sorcerer," Arthur stated, noticing how Merlin flinched at how harsh the words sounded despite how soft the Prince had said them. This made Arthur even angrier. How could Merlin pretend to be afraid of him now, when Arthur knows what Merlin is capable of? A strong sorcerer couldn't possibly be so afraid of an unarmed man!

"Please don't call me Emrys, my name's Merlin," he said without even thinking. Arthur's eyes showed a hint of confusion, however it disappeared quickly. Arthur spoke up, his voice slightly raised:

"And yet you said that you were Emrys."

Merlin sat up straighter, determined now to tell Arthur the truth, to make Arthur understand.

"The druids call me Emrys, but I have never used it as my name."

"So why have you come to Camelot? To kill the king? To kill me? To-" Arthur started, but Merlin interrupted him angrily:

"How could you believe I would do anything of the sort! Arthur, I only fight to protect you, I am your _friend_-"

"HOW CAN I BELIEVE YOU AFTER YOU HID SUCH A SECRET FROM ME!" Arthur bellowed, finally unable to contain the raw anger burning inside him. Merlin's face paled, his hands rigid as he stared into the empty chill of the Prince's eyes. Lancelot looked over, still weary to join in on the conversation.

Merlin almost wanted to look away from the Prince's wrath then, but he found it in himself to keep looking Arthur square in the eyes.

"Because I _am_ your friend, no matter what secrets I had to keep from you. Arthur… I am not evil," Merlin spoke, his voice almost as soft as the rustling of the leaves.

"But why Merlin, how can I trust that what you say is true, that even with magic you are not as cruel as every other magic-user out there! Every magician I have come across has tried to kill me, and you have kept it hidden away from me, and it's powerful magic too!" As Arthur ranted, he began to pace angrily back and forth, never taking his eyes off his servant's determined ones. He almost wished he could however, because he kept imagining those clear blue eyes turning to gold.

"Arthur I would have told you but you know I had no choice to hide my magic with the laws of Camelot!" Merlin exclaimed, his heart pounding as he watched the prince shake his head.

"Then why even come! Why come to Camelot, where your kind is executed, why would you even _learn_ magic-" Arthur managed to choke out, too angry to continue with the rest of his outburst. He wanted to hit Merlin, to tie him up and leave him in the woods, but something was stopping him. Perhaps it was the memory of that cheeky grin. Merlin watched as Arthur fumed, ruffling his hands through his blond hair, his eyes full of the same confusion. When Arthur managed to settle down somewhat, Merlin finally said with his voice wavering slightly:

"I never _learned_ magic, Arthur, I was _born_ with it."

Arthur stopped moving completely and looked again at the defiant raven-haired boy, his breathing slowing as his voice was nowhere to be found. Merlin watched tiredly as the Prince sat down on the bare earth next to him.

"How is that even possible?" Uttered Arthur slowly, his eyes still weary. His mind was racing in circles, the dark infestation in his gut quieting. Merlin took a slow breath before continuing.

"I'm not sure, it's pretty rare but it can happen. Arthur I promise you, I never chose to study magic. I was born with it, just like you were born to rule over Camelot one day," Merlin said quietly, almost smiling but not quite.

Arthur just sat quietly, trying to digest what he had been told. Merlin took it as a good sign that his expression had softened considerably.

"Magic is not evil, Arthur, and I know you had been brought up to believe that, but it is a natural part of this world. Life depends on it. How magic is used is dependent on who uses it, be they good or evil," Merlin said, his voice earnest and pleading. Arthur noticed the ring of honesty in his voice, and his heart told him that what Merlin said was true. Arthur could not find a trace of evil in those clear blue eyes.

In fact, Arthur had known it all along, that whatever else Merlin had been called, whatever strange and powerful magic he had used, Merlin was still that same old stupid, brash, and clumsy friend of his. He knew it from the moment the idiot had proclaimed that he needed to protect Arthur and Camelot, he just couldn't see it through the hurt and anger. And though Arthur still wanted to remain mad at the servant, he just couldn't bring himself to let go of the feeling of warm relief brought upon by Merlin's honest words. He still had many more questions, however.

Merlin noticed the prince visibly relax, a light returning to his eyes as he looked at Merlin, his face still confused. Now Merlin couldn't help but smile slightly, the corners of his mouth lifting to a slight grin. Arthur was truly a great man, and a great friend.

"Now hold on there, I still have many more questions for you," Arthur stated in more of his usual way, a bit more demanding yet a friendly tone nonetheless. A smile threatened to break out on his face, but Arthur held back. _First I must get some answers. _Merlin sighed, but in a much less serious tone.

"Why do you think you need to protect me so much? Why did you come to Camelot, one of the most dangerous places for your kind? What sort of magic have you done behind my back?" Arthur asked in one quick rush, his eagerness for Merlin's answers poorly hidden. Lancelot, noticing the turn of direction in the conversation and visibly relaxing, smiled as he too would like to know the answers to those questions.

Apparently so did the other knights, as Lancelot noticed that they had just come back from their respective jobs and were now eavesdropping, clearly unwilling to interrupt the scene but still curious as to Merlin's response. They were quite obvious as the knights were still wearing their bright wizard robes, however Arthur and Merlin were so engrossed in their conversation that they hadn't noticed the others hanging around. Gwaine looked over at Lancelot with a wink and a look that said, _if Princess __can trust him, so can I. _Lancelot nodded back.

Merlin thought a bit before giving Arthur his answer, his brows furrowed but his eyes still light.

"Well as for the first two, I guess I can answer with _destiny_," Merlin stated simply.

"Destiny," Arthur said, slightly exasperated, "that's a bit cheesy, don't you think?"

Merlin rolled his eyes at the blonde. Gwaine and Elyan almost laughed at the sheer Merlin-ness of the movement, but Lancelot stopped them with his hand up just in time.

"Of course it would seem cheesy to _your_ tiny brain," Arthur stopped his protest to hear Merlin's explanation, "but to me it had been determined from the time I was born. I only just found out about it when I arrived at Camelot. I had been told that it was my destiny to protect you as you created one of the greatest Kingdoms ever known, with an era for peace for even those with magic." Arthur looked up in shock at Merlin. He had never known of such a thing.

"Well no wonder you had such ridiculous faith in me, but how could you be saddled with such an enormous responsibility? I had no idea…" Arthur began to say, quite at a loss for words.

"Well at first I didn't believe it at all," Merlin said with a slight smirk, then continued, "but then over time I saw just how good of a person you are. And how good of a King you will be. And I knew that not because of the prophecy, or what people said about you, but by what I saw as your servant, as your friend."

Arthur was so emboldened by Merlin's words that he felt his heart lift at how much faith the sorcerer had in him. He knew just how loyal a friend Merlin was to him, but he had no idea the depth of the faith. How could he have ever thought him evil?

"And as far as the whole 'responsibility' thing, I did say I was born with it. I was born with quite a bit of magic as you have undoubtedly noticed, and though I may have resented it before, I am glad to have it to protect you and the people of Camelot."

"Well that doesn't mean you have to take it on all by yourself, and quite frankly I'm surprised you ever thought you had to," Arthur said, still surprised that Merlin had so much responsibility resting on his shoulders. Merlin just rolled his eyes at the Prince. _He is certainly anything but a useless servant_, Arthur thought, as he remembered how often he had described Merlin like that. By the Gods how stupid he had been to not notice Merlin's strength.

"Princess is right, you don't need to take on the responsibility by yourself, Merlin," Gwaine said loudly from his hiding spot. Arthur and Merlin's heads shot up as they noticed the poorly hidden audience, Gwaine's black eye makeup still somewhat visible on his face.

"And I suppose you louts listened to the entire conversation?" Arthur said, directing his friendly insult mostly towards Gwaine.

Merlin looked somewhat apprehensive as the other knights stepped out into the camping area; however he calmed down once he noticed that they all were regarding him warmly. The knights trusted Arthur, and since Arthur trusted Merlin the knights trusted him as well. Gwaine trod over and gave Merlin a strong pat on the back, as the servant grinned back up at him.

"So I'm guessing all those times you fled to the back of a fight, you were really using magic to take down the baddies?" Gwaine said mischievously while Merlin smirked slightly. Something clicked in Arthur's mind at Gwaine's words.

"Hey wait a second, that's right! You mean to say that all those times you flee like a coward you're really fighting?" Arthur blurted out, his mind running through various memories of bandit attacks, all of which had very lucky instances of tree branches falling or enemies slipping on the ground-

Merlin's grin became wider as Arthur put two and two together and laughed when Arthur turned to him with a ridiculous look of realization, his face not unlike a stunned deer. Leon, Percival and Elyan looked equally abashed, as they hadn't noticed the obvious use of magic either.

"How many other times had you used magic! The griffin, the bandit fights-" Arthur started to say.

"Ohhh the questing beast! And he must've been the one to divulge Sir Valiant's treacherous shield!" Leon stated suddenly, the memory coming back to him in a flash. Merlin just looked at him with that same grin on his face.

"All those times Morgana and Morgause had attacked with magic, and somehow it had been stopped! The immortal army!" Elyan exclaimed, as all the other knights also remembered times when Merlin had rescued them and Arthur.

Arthur just blinked as he realized just _how _many times Merlin had saved his life. And the lives of everyone in Camelot. He was probably the main reason the castle was still standing! It was astounding, how many inexplicable events started to make sense… And after many of those events he had still treated Merlin as a useless servant!

Arthur turned to Merlin, the smile still wide on the warlock's face.

"I should have said this a while ago, Merlin. You have done much more than I could have ever expected from you to help Camelot, to help my friends, and to help me," Arthur said, watching as Merlin blinked embarrassedly.

"Ah Arthur it's ok, I really don't need –"

"Thank you."

And as Arthur stated that, he bowed his head towards the warlock, his friend, the other knights following suit. Merlin stood in shock for a moment, too gratified to say anything and his face red, then ruffled his hair embarrassedly and mumbled something along the lines of "it was nothing," his grin threatening to break his face.

A wave of exhaustion hit Arthur then, he had gone from angry to thankful in such a short time that his mind was utterly spent. He was sure there were even more secrets Merlin was keeping, but for now he just wanted to get ready for the night. He and Merlin got up and joined the other knights at the fire, Elyan preparing the soup as Gwaine poked the crackling fire. Percival looked over at the two returning friends, and smiled. Though he didn't say much, he was quite glad Arthur had accepted Merlin back as Merlin was one of the kinder people he had known.

Elyan too shared Percival's sentiments, as he remembered how a mysterious sorcerer had once tried to save his father's life, but to no avail. He would have to talk to Merlin later about it. Leon also was glad to have Merlin back, even if he was a sorcerer – though Leon had been the most loyal to the King out of any of them, he had one of the best senses of character and never sensed an evil bone in Merlin's body. He was also glad of his Prince's newfound peace, and was sure that whatever Arthur decided on he could follow indefinitely. Besides, he rather enjoyed listening to the two's pratter during trips. He smiled at Merlin, who smiled warmly back at him, clearly glad that one of the King's most loyal followers had accepted him so easily.

Gwaine was thinking along similar lines of the other knights, but with much more devious plans at hand.

"So Merlin, how much trouble have you caused people with your magic?" Gwaine said impishly.

"Well I've caused Morgana quite a bit-" Merlin started, but Gwaine interjected.

"No no no, I mean _fun_ trouble, like _pranks..._" Merlin showed surprise when he realized what Gwaine had said, then attempted and failed to look innocent.

"You don't mean you actually have played pranks on us?" Arthur said suddenly, knowing full well that he would be a prime target.

"No, I mean.. Only a couple and not on purpose.. The first day I met you Arthur, when you tripped a lot as you tried to fight me, and I suppose I could have removed your donkey ears a bit sooner than I did..." Merlin said airily, trying to ignore Arthur as his face reddened with indignation.

"Are you saying that _you_ were the reason I tripped over all those pails and things? And those donkey ears were horrendous, I should throw you in the stocks for-" Arthur started, but all the knights let out a loud bout of laughter as Arthur realized that he had just revealed a very embarrassing memory. Gwaine in particular had found this particular revelation quite hysterical, as he was laughing so hard he was pounding his fists on the forest floor.

"The Crown Prince Arthur.. With donkey ears! I suppose he brayed as well!" Gwaine said, chortling heartily. Merlin just laughed at the memory, and the other knights continued with their laughter at Arthur's expense, the Prince's threat of the stocks forgotten.

"That's about as much as I had done anything of the sort, sorry to disappoint Gwaine," Merlin said, the laughter dying down with a hearty chuckle now and then.

"Well we clearly need to fix that, don't we! I mean, strongest sorcerer and all, we should be able to get quite a few tricks out of you," Gwaine said, Merlin weary of the rogue's mischievous thoughts. The warlock knew just how creative Gwaine could be when he it came to practical jokes.

"Now Gwaine, magic isn't a toy-" Lancelot started, but was interrupted as his fellow knight pulled him into a rough one-armed hug.

"Oh c'mon mum, Magic can be anything it wants to be! That's why it's magic!" Gwaine said happily, Arthur groaning at the devilish grin covering the man's face. He was sure that whatever ideas Gwaine had, they were bad news. He made a mental note to keep an eye on Gwaine.

"Oh and that's another thing, I'm a warlock, not a sorcerer. There's a difference in that sorcerers _learn magic_, and warlocks just naturally gain magic at a certain age, in my case it was when I was born," Merlin said, as the other knights besides Arthur and Lancelot realized what he had just said. Merlin looked over embarrassedly at them all; he really couldn't take many more looks of shock in one day.

"Well jeez mate I can only imagine the horrors you have inflicted on your mother, imagine, taking care of a toddler with _magic_ as a single mom? It's a surprise you haven't driven her mad!" Gwaine said.

"Well there was this one time I somehow turned all my mother's sewing tools into frogs- she didn't like that one too much," Merlin said, smiling embarrassedly at the memory.

"And I thought you were a load of trouble for us! I can't imagine your mother. Frogs I tell you.." Elyan stated saying, as Merlin started to look around his surroundings once more.

"And by the way, who in the _hell_ instructed you all on how to act like sorcerers?" Merlin asked, taking note once more of the ridiculous scribbles on the trees and of the knights' ridiculous armaments, not to mention Gwaine's black eye makeup. He wondered how he even managed to forget about the Prince's ridiculous plan, whatever it had been.

"Well we all thought of it together, with most of it pitched in from Arthur and Gwaine, and we made the robes ourselves. The point was to scare you," Leon answered stoically. Lancelot snorted at the look of exasperation on Merlin's face. If only Merlin had any idea just _how_ ridiculous all of their planning was.

"You did this.. together. This was your idea of how to act like sorcerers… In order to… frighten me," Merlin was struck dumb by the stupidity of the entire thing. He couldn't even speak as he remembered the ridiculous threat letter, the hissing noises that they made when they tried to incant a "spell" along with the absurd arm movements that came along with them –

"You guys know that sorcerers don't as a whole have some sort of mental deficiency, right? I mean, that had to have been one of the most ridiculous displays of fake magic I've ever seen," Merlin stated exasperatedly, Arthur and the knights looking at him in surprise, except for Lancelot, who had trouble holding down his laughter and was now sniggering loudly.

"Well of course it wouldn't have scared you, being Sir all-powerful-woobaloo or whatever," Arthur snapped back, clearly confused at Merlin's reaction.

"Powerful _what_? Is that another one of your completely inane _sorcerer words_? _Nobody _could possibly be afraid of such a display, you guys looked like complete and utter fools out there, prancing around in bright colored dresses and waving your arms around like you were impersonating drunken chickens that only had one foot! And the hissing screeches, what the hell was up with that? I thought my ears were going to explode," Merlin said loudly, still incredulous at memory of the knights prancing about. Lancelot was laughing even harder now, remembering the knights practicing. The knights just stared at him dumbfouned, Arthur even more so.

"I mean, that's what the sorcerers _we _saw do, we were just imitating what we saw," Gwaine spoke up, clearly offended that his graceful hand motions did not display sorcery-ness as he thought they had.

"Who in the hell would do anything like that, it's completely impractical to wear bright clothing when you need to _hide in a forest!_" Merlin said, beginning to laugh.

"Ah see, I told Princess we need to change the color of our bright red capes – " Gwaine began, but was interrupted by Arthur.

"Well you're the one who instructed us on the incantations and hand movements, clearly which were nowhere close to what we were supposed to have done!" Arthur said angrily, but still finding the whole situation funny.

"Haha… Oh that would make sense, that Gwaine.. hehe.. was the one who taught you those things!" Merlin said in-between laughter, "and I suppose he drew the runes on the trees as well! Or whatever those scribbles are, I think one is close to the Druidic mark for _squirrel_…" Merlin returned to laughing as the knights looked at each other in embarrassment.

Gwaine, though clearly abashed, began laughing along with Merlin, who was soon joined by Arthur and the rest of the knights. The group of friends kept laughing for a while, the warm fire sparking and crackling in the middle of the camp.

"Well I suppose I did have the most to do with it, but nobody else had any clue so I just thought I'd step in with some ideas," Gwaine said, still chuckling.

"Yes and Gwaine had heard the name 'Emreesh' from the local bar, so we suppose the guy must've slurred his words in a drunken stupor. So maybe if we hadn't had Gwaine, we would've been more successful," Arthur said trying to save some face, but Merlin shook his head and laughed.

"Gwaine? If any of you had even half a brain you would have never listened to _Gwaine_ on how to act like an evil sorcerer, and don't even get me started on your _virgi_ – " Merlin stopped, his eyes wide, suddenly looking frightened and wary as glanced around surrounding forest. Arthur noticing this sudden stillness motioned for the others to remain silent. The knights followed his lead as their stealth training kicked in, some trying to put out the fire while Arthur instinctively crept to his sword, his eyes aware. He knew Merlin could somehow sense danger before, and only now did he realize that it was Merlin's magic that made him so aware.

"What is it?" Arthur hissed, in a whisper towards his servant, the other knights readying for battle as well, albeit in brightly colored wizard robes. Arthur sincerely hoped the darkness was enough to cover up the vivid hues of the clothing.

"Morgause," spoke Merlin simply. Arthur and his knights visibly tensed as they listened for the witch through the darkness of the forest.

"Is she alone?" Arthur asked quietly, hoping that Merlin had sensed her from quite a distance away. He had no idea how these wizardy-sense-things worked, but he rather hoped that Morgause wouldn't be able to spring a trap on them.

"No, she's with a couple other magic users I think… And maybe a couple of hired mercenaries," Merlin replied, his eyes screwed up in concentration, "she's a bit off to the east… It seems she's here to set up a trap involving Camelot."

_Of _course _it was a trap, that blasted woman loves her indirect attacks. _Arthur thought, as he tried to think of what their next plan should be.

"Do you have any idea what the trap could be, Merlin?" Leon asked, wary.

"Not particularily, though I think it has something to do with gender-swapping… Her plot seems almost as clever as your plan to scare me… We could go around her without her noticing I think, and then just try to come up with a way to stop her at Camelot," Merlin said thoughtfully, Elyan nodding at his words.

"Does she know about your magic?" Lancelot asked, looking at Merlin.

"No I don't believe so, and I'd like to keep it that way.. It would be quite easy for her to use it against us. And Arthur, I don't see any way we can ambush her, it seems one of the sorcerers she has with her is particularily skilled at wards…" Merlin said, reading the look on the Prince's face.

Arthur was frustrated, why did Morgause choose _now_ to attack? At least they had a head start this time, but he wished he could somehow stop her right then and now without having to wait for it at Camelot.. He had faith in his knights and Merlin, but what if they couldn't stop her plan in time? He kept running through plans of ambushes for the witch and her cronies, but none of them seemed like they would be very successful…

"If only there was a way to drive her away, without having to just return to Camelot for reinforcements…" Arthur said slowly, his mind working furiously to come up a decent plan. The knights too furrowed their brows in concentration as they tried to think of a solution to their problem.

"Wait, there may be a way…" Gwaine said, his eyes widening as a plan grew in his mind. Everyone looked over to Gwaine, who began to smile in that impish way only he knew how to. Gwaine looked around at all the supplies, to the rune marks on the trees, to his fellow knights in brightly colored robes, and finally to Arthur and Merlin. Lancelot was starting to get a very bad feeling from the rogue's devilish expression, the moonlight glinting off his wide grin.

"I've got a plan…"

~~ooOOOoo~~

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><p>.<p>

.

So here it is, the continuation of the previous parts to this story, a bit more serious than the rest so I hope that didn't scare you comedy fans off! I can't really bring myself to do a reveal without at least some part of it serious, and this part was pretty hard to write. I was hesitant writing it because these sorts of reconciliations have been done before, albeit not with my fic. I hope it wasn't boring, I really wanted to give you guys something with a lot of thought put into it. I still hoped to bring something new in, but I struggled to think of what until I realized that I wasn't quite done embarrassing Arthur and his knights yet, and that helped fit a missing piece into the puzzle. If even one person wants me to continue, I will! And it won't take 3 months, of course! Unless more of you are just happy where it's at.. Doesn't matter to me :D

I just really want to write Gwaine's mischief, though I'm giving no hints away as to what he's planning. Let's just say Morgause is one of my favorite villains to torture (no it's not whump sorry.) Plus I wanted another chance for Merlin to use his magic. The next chapter will hopefully be more humorous. Come with me and you will see...

**So thank you all once again, because if it weren't for your support I wouldn't have gotten off Skyri- I mean, taken a break from my schoolwork- to write this chapter. And I am very much enjoying the current season of Merlin! Our protagonist seems to be getting his act together a bit more, though perhaps a bit less cheerily than we're used to. And as always, I try to reply to every review, and I jump out of my seat in joy every time I get the email for one, so please review, even if it's to tell me of how horrific my spellign erors in tihs chaptre are!**

**FUS ROH DUH**


	10. Chapter 10: Sorcery is Serious Bsns, end

**This is very late, and I'm a horrible person. It's been a year. It's set a bit in the past, since it took me so long to get to write the damn thing. Special thanks to all my reviewers/favorites during this time, and especially to Jayne Mays who kept me going. **

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><p><strong>A Complete Idiot's Guide to Scaring a Witch<strong>

**(FINAL PART)**

**.**

**.**

It was late, and the usually noisy and bustling forest lay still as pale grey clouds stole over the sky and the sun hid underneath the horizon. Leaves rustled slightly as the group of hooded figures made their way slowly through the wooded path in the dusk. The dark stone form of an old ruin arch passed its withered shadow over them as they strode to the clearing where a woman with hair of starlight waited.

"Where have you been," the woman spoke without turning to look at them, choosing instead to gaze up at the thick stone wall that had once been part of a fortress. Moss and lichen covered the other parts of the ruin around it; their light tendrils creeping slowly down from the blackened stones above.

Two of the hooded figures farther back looked at each other, while the others shrank back from the venom in her voice.

"My priestess, while scouting the area we have found two who may be of interest-" One of the group started, but was cut off by a piercing look by the blonde. She turned towards them slowly, never taking her eyes off the one who spoke, her scarlet gown swirling in a stark contrast to the murky forest floor.

"I do not care for your excuses. Should you and your fellow _novices_ foil my plan to crush Camelot underneath the weight of its corrupt nature and finally have Arthur Pendragon in my grasp, simply because you fools cannot even guard a perimeter-"

Morgause made a violent gesture with her left hand, and an orb of fire burst into life at her fingertips. The flame flickered hungrily as the man in the cloak wavered. After a few moments, the fire flickered back into nonexistence, and the ruins were thrown into shadow once more. One of the figures in the back of the group sneezed, and the other elbowed him subtly. Morgause quickly turned and looked at the source of the noise, and the man under the cloak shuffled uncomfortably. A bird shrieked loudly somewhere in the forest.

"Well now that you have wasted my time enough, show me the two newcomers in the back and why you think they may _interest_ me. Also, should they be Camelot spies, I will have your tongues as well as theirs, and maybe a few fingers too," Morgause said softly, a cruel smile twisting her lips as the strangers slowly stepped forward from the rest of the group, one in a midnight blue robe with gold trimmings, the other in a green and silver mantle with delicate patterns. Underneath the gloom of the crumbling ruins, both of their faces were shrouded.

The rest of the hooded figures formed a half-circle around the proceedings, watching as Morgause silently crept towards the two men in the middle, her eyes narrowing as she scrutinized them. The two never looked away from her gaze, but one was fiddling with his hands absentmindedly behind his back. The other just stood as straight and as still as the ancient trees surrounding the clearing, and waited for the witch to speak. A bird cried out once more in the dusk.

"So, you two have come here I believe to _aid_ me in my noble quest to end the pain of our kind? I can sense some sort of power from the two of you, but for what reason-" Morgause gasped as she looked closer at the young man in the silver-green robe. The man tried not to react, however both him and his partner tensed at the exclamation. The rest of the sorcerers in the back looked at one another, puzzled.

"I see now! I know who you are!" Morgause exclaimed, breathlessly. The alarmed men both looked at her quickly, tensing as if for a fight when the priestess continued, "You are a sacred virgin!"

Both men stared at her dumbstruck for a good time as a particularly rowdy bird shrieked almost suggestively in the background. The man in the blue robe exclaimed "Ah!" as if he had remembered something he had forgotten previously, breaking the silence as his partner was still having trouble uttering a word. His face was slowly turning a marvelous magenta color. Morgause smiled alluringly at the man while slowly stroking his sleeve.

"N-now wait a minute-" The man said, finally finding his strangled voice as Morgause shushed him.

"It's fine, hush darling, _hush_ I said," she purred, her muddy eyes looking up from underneath her eyelashes, "I recognize those robes, and I know the ritual. You must be special, I've never seen a _male_ wear one before, especially one so.. _strong_." At that last word, Morgause leaned in towards the stranger to smell him as he urgently tried to shy away. A bird hooted once again from the shadows of the forest, though it was a strange call indeed- it almost sounded like the animal was choking on something. The man in the green cloak looked around desperately for help from his partner, but the man in the blue robe seemed to be trying tremendously hard not to laugh.

"You poor thing, I suppose the druids left you wandering all alone with no priests or priestesses left to … _help_… " She pressed up slightly against him seductively as the man in silver and green stammered, with the man in the midnight blue robe still having some sort of fit on the side. The audience of magicians averted their eyes at the sight, saying things like "the holy virgin!" and "we are not worthy of his purity!" At the magicians' outcries loud chicken noises erupted from a tree nearby, only to be silenced by a low _thud_. Morgause seemed not to notice.

When the witch's chest pressed up against the man's arm it seemed the male virgin had finally found his voice for good as he quickly blurted out, "W-wait, that's not why we came here! We came here to warn you about the damn curse!"

Morgause stepped back as she looked oddly at the man, her sorcerer underlings speaking quickly to one another, their fright showing. One was shaking silently while another quickly turned his head at a sudden gust of wind, a drop of sweat dripping down his throat.

"Ghosts they said?"

"Idiot Stefan, he said clearly said _curse_."

"Ah that's even worse.."

"How can it be _worse_? Ghosts are the ones that cause curses.."

"Albreich, you imbecile, ANYTHING can cause a curse, remember that undead thing that guy told us about? Or maybe it was a possessed doll…"

"I saw a phantom the other day! A woman in white, skinning the flesh off a poor lil' bunny, I swear I did,"

"You guys are all fools, it's the DEMONS we need to worry about, they keep stealing my socks-"

Morgause turned to them and silenced their quibbling with a look.

"That's ENOUGH. I'll have no more of this foolish talk.. And you! What is this nonsense they're talking about." She turned and looked at the two standing before her, her eyes softening when she gazed upon the one in the green and silver garb. He nervously backed away from her while the mage in the blue robe finally spoke up, his voice echoing among the blackened stones around them.

"These ruins are very, very cursed Morgause. We have come to warn you. You need to leave before the curse gets you."

"Very, very cursed you say? And what would make you say that, my brethren? I haven't felt any sort of ominous or malicious presence here," she said arrogantly, looking haughtily at the man before her.

"Well it's uh, you see, it's uh haunted," he stammered nervously, again playing with the gold trim on the sleeves of his robe. Morgause looked at the mage as if he was a bit slow. His partner rolled his eyes, though it didn't show through the shadow of his hood.

"Yes, it's haunted, and you really would do the best to get out of here, this spirit is an extremely angry one and will rip up anyone who dares set up a trap here overnight. We want to warn you to leave, and take cover practicing a ritual to keep the spirit away so that he doesn't kill you," the man in green-and-silver said in a mysterious voice, though Morgause just looked at him exasperated as well.

"You expect me to believe that some silly spirit here is going to brutally murder us?For _what?_ Staying too long at his favorite place? Trampling on his favorite grass?"

"He just hates you! He probably thinks you're some smirky, plotting, wicked bitch-" the man in silver started, but was cut off by his partner.

"Look, Morgause, we aren't kidding. You are the last of a line of priestesses, and us of the Old Religion just want to see you safe," the man said, staring intently at the witch. Suddenly, the air grew chill as the night's darkness weighed on the air around them, choking the whispers of the leaves into silence. A sudden chill settled over the dark stone walls. Morgause quickly glanced to her left, as if she had felt a presence there, and started to look a bit unsettled.

"This spirit is _dangerous_, and _more powerful than any I've come across._ I've spent quite a bit of my life banishing evil beings, and I can tell you this one is the cruelest and most malevolent of them all. You can't feel him, because he doesn't want to be sensed," The man in the blue robe spoke softly but his voice echoed powerfully over the ruins nonetheless. A spark of gold flared in the shadows of his hood, and Morgause let out an involuntary shudder. A gust of wind stirred the leaves around her in a gale of rasping laughter. Her underlings glanced around nervously, the tallest one shaking violently. The man in the green and silver robes looked quickly at his friend.

"And who is the one here?" She asked Merlin, her once confident voice now filled with a sharp fear she could not explain, her dark eyes darting towards the snarling grey gargoyle just a few feet away from the black arch above them. A bird screeched once more.

The name Mor'du was whispered, but not by any living thing standing in the clearing of the forest.

* * *

><p><em>Earlier in the day …<em>

"Merlin, I could probably anger some all-powerful sorcerer simply by stepping on this stupid little mushroom here. He'd come forth and scream some nonsense about his precious fungus, then proceed to pound me into the ground until more stupid little mushrooms would grow on me. These wizards never really put up any warnings, you know?"

Merlin didn't really have much to say to that one, as there had been many instances of wizards and sorcerers being randomly infuriated towards someone (usually Arthur) for harming one silly thing or another without even knowing. He certainly remembered the unfortunate Unicorn event.

"..Are you sure this isn't just some way for you to prank people with magic for fun, Gwaine?"

"Now now Merlin, if you hadn't suggested that special spell of yours, this wouldn't work, and you know it. One could even say that all this was _your_ idea," Gwaine said, a rogue smile gleaming on his face.

The raven-haired man in question just looked at Gwaine and rolled his eyes. Merlin regretted suggesting that hallucination spell.

"As long as it works, Sir Gwaine, it doesn't matter whose idea it is," Leon said as he sharpened his knife.

"Ah Leon, you can't remain so poised and proper; you won't scare anyone that way. You'd just make them feel inferior to your mighty prose," Gwaine said as he gestured imperiously.

"Sir Gwaine, I do not look down upon the likes of the illiterate-"

"Of course you don't, you're too busy practicing your consonants-"

"Sir Leon, Gwaine, that's enough," Arthur said, as both knights burst into laughter, "We have work that needs to be done, and you fools are gabbling about grammar and other nonsense."

"Speaking of illiterate, Leon, what sort of word is '_gabbling'_? And I see _I_ don't get a _sir_, though I am your dog of a knight," Gwaine said inbetween chuckles while Leon was trying and failing to arrange his face into a more serious expression for his Prince. Arthur just ignored the two as Sir Elyan and Percival entered the forest clearing through the nearby brush.

"Sire," Sir Elyan spoke, "It seems Morgause's group has remained where we have tracked them last."

"Good, that at least has stayed consonant. I mean constant," Arthur said, slightly reddening at his mistake. Fits of chuckles continued from Gwaine, while Leon elbowed him sharply, trying even harder to contain his own laughter as Merlin too joined in with his own silent giggles.

"Merlin!" Arthur barked sharply at the warlock, in an attempt to sober him up from his laughing fit. It had the opposite effect, and Merlin burst out into fresh laughter again.

"Aha.. Yes, sire," Merlin finally answered sheepishly once he was done, and before Arthur's annoyance reached its limit. Merlin had gone 4 hours without Arthur hitting him today – it was a new personal record.

"How are the details of your part of the mission coming along?" the prince asked, looking at Merlin intently.

"Well sir, me and Gwaine have discussed it a bit more –"

"Gwaine, I _told _you, we are _not_ going to try to throw _dung_ at Morgause-"

"Arthur it's a good idea and you know it. I even volunteered for the supply."

"I am assuming that we are talking about your _horse_ here, Gwaine…"

"My lovely Lucille's shit is far too nice for the likes of Morgause-" Arthur tried to cut him off quickly with the wave of his hand, but Elyan spoke up exasperatedly as well.

"Agh Gwaine you drunk, did you really name your horse after that tavern wench?"

"How dare you say that Elyan, my lady Lucille was a saint! And she had the most superb pair of-"

"Enough!" Merlin said loudly, surprising even himself at his interruption as both Gwaine and Arthur turned to look at him with amused looks, "Er, Arthur, we have actually been discussing something other than what comes out of Gwaine's knightly ass and his _saintly _tavern adventures."

"I don't actually have a mule, Merlin. But yes, Arthur, we were discussing about how poor Merlin here has to go to that scary evil magic camp with that horrid bitch all by his lonesome. I think the poor lad will need some company, don't you?" Gwaine said, frowning as he staged extreme sadness. Arthur sighed.

"What Sir Gwaine _means_, Arthur, is that it will be dangerous for just one person to travel to this camp," Merlin said, crossing his arms as he looked at the prince.

Sir Lancelot, whose dark eyes had been lost in thought while the others were talking, also spoke up, "I would agree that two people would look a better story than just one man traveling alone- it might seem that the man is a scout to Morgause. Plus it's best not to send a man alone into her camp; she's quite dangerous as we all know." He looked over to Arthur, whose brow furrowed as he rested his chin on his hands.

"I remember how dangerous she is, perhaps even better than everyone else, Sir Lancelot. But we have discussed this before- If anyone is going to pass off the act of being a sorcerer, it's going to be the one who _actually is a sorcerer_, lest we forget how god awful our own attempts at the disguise were…" Arthur said, grimacing at the memory, then continued "..And remember, we'll be right there with Merlin, watching from the forest. There's no way I'd actually let him be _fully_ alone with that group."

"Yes but Arthur even with us there, will we be close enough to intervene if something does.. occur?" Lancelot said, glancing quickly over to Merlin, who had gone a shade pale. Arthur closed his eyes, his worry showing through a tense posture. The light streaming through the leaves above the clearing was a soft amber, and a squirrel raced up a tree nearby in preparation for dusk.

"Merlin, I'm coming with you," Arthur said after a long pause, while watching a blue-and-white bird peck at the ground nearby. The knights stiffened, each looking at Arthur with a tense aura of disagreement. Finally, Percival spoke up.

"Arthur, I know you care about Merlin, we all do, but as your knights and protectors we cannot allow you to do that. One of us needs to do it." Lancelot, Elyan and Leon nodded in agreement, and even Gwaine voiced his approval. Arthur sighed; the prince knew he was right, but he didn't enjoy the idea of ordering his knights to let him go.

"It has to be me. I'm the only one besides Merlin who now has a garb that can fool Morgause, which apparently no one else but me can wear. Speaking of which, Gwaine, how is Merlin's robe coming along?" Arthur asked, turning to Gwaine, and ignoring the sullen looks his knights were giving him as the knight pulled out a soft cloth in rich cobalt. The edges had a fine filigree of thin gold lines twisting amongst one another in a strange pattern Arthur didn't recognize. He assumed the filigree was Merlin's handiwork and not Gwaine's – the robe's design didn't contain any dirty pictures or beer mugs.

"We've finished it a while ago, and Merlin helped the final stitching with a spell or two of his own. Apparently he's quite the tailor," Gwaine reported dryly, clearly a bit miffed he didn't get the chance to add any hidden cuss words on the garb. Merlin gave the prince a smug grin, watching as Arthur regarded him with suspicious eyes. Sudden memories of his own clothes being miraculously repaired by the otherwise incompetent servant sprung up into Arthur's mind as he watched Merlin chortle at his own joke. Arthur quickly leaned forward and gave Merlin a sharp rap on the head, and the servant let out a surprised '_Ow_!'

Rubbing his head where Arthur had hit him and annoyed that the prince had ruined his new record, Merlin tried to change the subject before the prince threw something at him as well.

"Alright, we've got the robes all settled, but what about the other part of the plan? As I've said, I believe I can cloak your presence to Morgause and her cronies, but I don't know how we're going to be able to communicate to one another once me and Arthur are in their camp."

"And that's where our knight training comes in; we already have various ways of mimicking various bird calls to communicate to one another while hidden," Leon said rationally, "we've practiced them quite a bit and used them in the field as well. It would be a good choice for communication in this situation."

"As long as Gwaine doesn't ruin it, that is," Elyan said, looking mockingly at the knight in question.

"You are just envious of my skills, Sir Sparrow," Gwaine taunted, flapping his arms as he did so.

"Gwaine, I hope you do not mean to attempt your chicken call again. It sounds absolutely nothing like a chicken. Even if it did, there are no chickens in the forest," Lancelot said exasperatedly as Gwaine took a swig from his silver flask. Leon gave Gwaine a disparaging look.

"I dunno Lance, Gwaine makes a pretty amazing chicken when he tries to perform 'sorcery'," Merlin said snickering, followed by a loud burst of laughter from everyone gathered, with Gwaine spitting out his drink and letting out a loud guffaw.

As the mirth died down, a chill swept over the camp. The amber light had faded to a deep orange, and dusk was approaching fast. Arthur looked over at Merlin, who had suddenly become nervous and was playing with his hands as he was wont to do when he was preoccupied with his own thoughts.

"I think we have discussed this far enough so far; Elyan, Percival, I need you two to hide the horses and start getting the armor ready as Gwaine and Leon patrol the perimeter. Sir Lancelot, quickly scout Morgause's camp again as close as you can, then return and give me a report on the camp. The last thing we need is for Morgause or her sorcerers to catch us off guard," Arthur commanded looking at each of his men in turn, the knights nodding then moving out into the crimson forest to perform their respective duties. Behind Arthur's back, Gwaine tried to take another swig of his flask, but Leon grabbed it from him and quickly emptied it onto the forest floor despite the rogue's muttered complaints.

Arthur turned to look at Merlin once more, the warlock now trying to distract himself from the prince's gaze as he checked over the dark-blue robes once more.

"Merlin," Arthur said quietly as the warlock pulled at a loose thread on the cloth. Merlin quickly turned to him with a smile that wasn't able to completely cover the obvious worry in his eyes, though the boy had tried. Arthur wasn't fooled.

"You're thinking you can't do this spell, aren't you."

Merlin looked away as his smile faded slightly, still playing with the loose string.

"Nah, I'm fine, Arthur, really. I've handled Morgause before…" Merlin said as his eyes flashed gold, and the thread wriggled its way back into the fabric. Arthur's gaze didn't falter as Merlin lifted up the robe to inspect his work, still avoiding the prince's stare.

"I wasn't talking about Morgause, Merlin, I was talking about this spell. You're having doubts as to whether you can pull it off or not."

Merlin looked up at the piercing blue gaze, then looked away wincing. Arthur sighed and picked up a loose branch from the forest floor, studying it as he thought about what to say.

"You don't have to lie to me Merlin, not anymore. In fact, with your acting skills, I don't even know how you got away with it the first place," Arthur said, his tone sincere, "I know you too well."

Merlin fiddled with his hands a bit more, then looked up at the blooded sky, his cheery pretense vanishing. A knot twisted in his stomach as he thought of what could go wrong in the upcoming trial, or what could happen to his valued friends. Sure he could do amazing things with magic, but compared to other practiced mages his control was sub-par and his technique was sloppy. He had hoped that he would eventually have the time to practice the finer methods of magic once his secret was revealed, but he didn't expect that he would need the skills so soon.

And this particular spell was tricky. It required time to be prepared beforehand with a multitude of extremely complicated words and phrases for the incantation to be completed properly, and also needed to be done soundlessly so as to not arouse suspicion. Even if spells often just _came_ to Merlin, the magician had no idea if he could invoke such a long spell without making a single mistake from memory. And even if he _did_ perform it perfectly, he still had to stay alert to the magicians around him to be sure he had warning should one of them react with magic-

The thick branch hit the side of Merlin's head with a _thwack_, interrupting his concentration on various ways to stay alert.

"Ow! What on earth was that for, you prat!" Merlin exclaimed, his blue eyes watering as he glared at Arthur. Unapologetic, the prat in question crossed his arms as he glared at the warlock.

"You're an idiot. That's what."

"Arthur, it's just that this spell, it's really complicated and I don't think I can remember it all-"

Merlin was interrupted by another sharp _thwack _from the stick.

"_OWWW!_"

"Are you done being an idiot yet?"

"Arthur god dammit I swear, will you just listen to me?"

"Not until you're done being an idiot, idiot."

"_You're_ the one being an _idiot_, I told you, I can't do this spell-"

Merlin raised up his hands to try to block the incoming attack, but Arthur just feigned to the left and struck the right side of his shoulder anyway.

"AGGGH!"

"You can, and stop trying to convince yourself you can't. I know you can."

"How do you know that!"

"The same way you know I'll succeed when I think I'll fail."

Astonished, Merlin turned to look at the prince who just coughed and looked embarrassedly away. It was the closest to admitting he relied on Merlin's advice as Arthur had ever come. A blossom of warmth spread through Merlin's chest as he smiled.

Arthur looked back at Merlin, the warlock's silly grin broadening as Arthur rolled his eyes at Merlin's reaction.

"Ha, so I guess you _do_ listen to me then, my lord Prat."

Arthur swung the stick once more at Merlin before the servant's grin grew even wider, but Merlin was ready this time. With a flash of his eyes, Merlin tore the stick from Arthur's hand and began to beat the prince on his fat head with it while laughing at the sight. As a very annoyed prince tried to dodge the assault while simultaneously cursing his aggravator with every word in his repertoire, Gwaine, Leon, and Lancelot returned from the forest into the clearing.

"My lord," Lancelot said, as the stick dropped from midair back to the leafy ground, Merlin shying away from the red-faced blonde.

"Lancelot," Arthur said, somewhat out of breath. Gwaine went to give Merlin a pat on the back for his masterful branch control.

"My lord, Morgause's camp remains at the same site as before, underneath the Ruins of Es'kador. Occasionally her sorcerers scout the perimeter in a group of five, while she focuses on reading some sort of text," Lancelot reported, a leaf poking through his dark hair.

"You got that close? I'm pretty impressed you managed to do that without being caught and turned into a squirrel, Lancey," Gwaine said with a grin.

Ignoring Gwaine, Lancelot continued, "For our plans, the location is perfect. The witch's subordinates already seem a bit spooked by the shadows of the old ruins."

Leon also spoke up, "Are you sure they were unnerved by the ruins? It could also just be that Morgause is there…"

"Could be that as well, however they were all gazing up nervously at the stone formations and muttering to one another, so I do actually think it is the remains of the fortress scaring them," Lancelot said thoughtfully.

Arthur nodded. "Good, that's exactly what we need. Leon, go grab Elyan and Percival, we'll go over the plan once more with them before we head out – it's almost time."

"Do we really need to go over the plan again Arthur? I'm pretty sure we have all the details down by now.." Gwaine said, pulling out a different flask and taking a swig from it as Leon walked away.

"Yes, and Gwaine, you would do well to not drink in front of your prince."

"Ah like it's ever stopped me from besting most of you guys at sword practice nearly every time."

"Only because your drunken moves are so stupidly unpredictable, it's hard to parry them."

Arthur and Gwaine continued to argue over the finer applications of alcohol and swordplay as Leon returned with Elyan and Percival, their footsteps crunching on the leafy forest ground. Merlin started to put on his new midnight-blue wizard's robe by sticking his head through what he thought was the neckhole, but in fact was for his arm. As Merlin flailed around trying to fix his robe, Arthur began to go over the plan once more.

"Ok, so we've got it, right men? Once we're caught by her sorcerers, we'll explain that we're here to warn her about the 'curse'," Arthur said, his men nodding, Merlin now trying to figure out why his robe was on backwards.

"Merlin will start enchanting the spell while I distract Morgause somehow. Probably with more rumors of the curse or some other wizardy nonsense."

"We will be in the woods around you, with Elyan and Gwaine up in the trees to be able to see the gathering better."

"And I will be communicating with the most realistic bird calls known to man."

"You'd better hope they're realistic Gwaine, or you may just be birdfood once Morgause or Leon gets through with you," Elyan said, sniggering. Percival also grinned as Leon rolled his eyes.

Arthur looked at Merlin, who was nodding in thoughtful concentration as he considered all the different components in the plan. Finally Merlin smiled determinedly and looked up at all of them.

"Ok, it's all set. And once I finish the spell, you'll know it. Once the invocation is over, Morgause and her underlings will be much more paranoid than before, and should follow the instructions to the fake ritual me and Arthur give to her. We will appear normal to her, but once we split them up and _you_ each come across them…" Merlin grinned something horrible. The corners of Arthur's lips twisted into a merciless smile, and Gwaine laughed sinisterly.

"…Then each of you will appear to them as their worst nightmare imaginable."

* * *

><p><em>Presently<em>

"Mor'du? Whatdo you mean?" Morgause asked, her fake confidence betrayed by the tremor in her voice. Merlin gave Arthur a quick nod underneath his hood- the spell was finished.

"An old spirit, and a very violent one. And he wants your blood, Morgause. He wants the blood of everyone here. Now, me and my companion here are protected-" Merlin started to say, but was cut off by a shrill screech from one of the sorcerers.

Pointing at a dark spot in the foreboding woods, the man was shaking with his eyes open wide. He managed to choke out in a panicked voice, "I _SAW _it, it was _there…_It _had no eyes, _mouth was torn.. open down to its throat and.. and blood.. _too much_..." before he passed out on the ground, unable to continue. His brethren now could not contain their fear any longer, and looked to Morgause for her reaction. The witch's jaw was clenched tight, her pale hands balled into fists as she stared at the man on the ground. The only two who appeared to be unaffected by the events were Arthur and Merlin, who both chanced a knowing grin at one another.

"Morgause, you _must_ perform the ritual! You're in mortal danger," Arthur spoke in a grave tone.

"Wait, you don't mean the virgin ritual?" Morgause asked, her voice quiet with fear.

"NO, no… no. Definitely not. I mean the _protection_ ritual," Arthur said, then added under his breath, "you crazy bitch."

"Protection ritual?" One of the sorcerers spoke up, his voice a squeak.

"Yes, a protection ritual. In order to be protected from this vile ghost, each of you must walk three-hundred paces away from these ruins _alone_. You must then say 'ghostie ghostie stay away we'll come and play another day' six times fast," Merlin said, with Arthur looking at him exasperatedly at the servant's improvised chant. Merlin looked at him and shrugged.

"Alone?" One of the sorcerers whimpered.

"Ghostie ghostie.. Are you sure?" Morgause asked, her brows furrowing in confusion.

"Yes! And hurry, you'd better hurry! The ghost has already started summoning his demonic minions!" Merlin added quickly, adding a spooky tremor to his voice and wiggling his fingers. Arthur rolled his eyes again as the sorcerers quickly scurried around trying to figure out who was going to walk where, and Morgause set off towards the west in shaky pace.

As each of the hooded men began to set off in opposite directions from the camp, Arthur turned to Merlin and said:

"Ghostie ghostie stay away, we'll come and play another day? Six times fast. Really."

"It was the best I had. I'm not good at this, you know," Merlin said defensively.

"I know you aren't. Anyway that went surprisingly perfect, excluding the horrifying sexual advances Morgause… Of which I _will_ question you about later. You knew about this robe," Arthur turned to Merlin with a demonic look in his eye. Merlin wondered if _he_ was put under the nightmare spell as well as he shuddered beneath the fuming gaze. Arthur would make him pay horribly for this later, Merlin was sure.

"Ah well the point is, it went well. And now it's just up to the knights to appear to scare… the rest of them," Merlin said as he nudged the unconscious man with his boot.

* * *

><p>Stefan walked around fifty paces until he could take it no more, and just started to run. His panicked breathing burned his throat and his muscles were sore, but Stefan just kept running frantically through the forest despite the pain. As he ran his foot caught on an upraised root, and the sorcerer was sent flying onto the ground.<p>

Mumbling from the pain and brushing crusted dirt off his knees, he turned sharply around as heard a twig snap nearby.

Stefan could only hear his own sharp breathing being crushed by the weight of the silence around him. No animals or even insects crawled around him; even the leaves stood still in the dead air surrounding him. The thump of his heart was drumming in his ears as he glanced around.

"Gh.. Ghostie…" he started to sputter out, but his small voice caught in his throat when he heard the sound of another twig break. None of his muscles would budge as fear clutched his heart.

"Stefan." An inhuman sound drifted from the black woods around him. "Stefan. My Stefan."

The man began to weep silently as he clutched his chest, terror constricting his lungs and erupting in his stomach.

"Stefan. My Stefan. My Stefan." The unholy chorus continued.

The figure of a pale woman stepped out from the shadows, her stomach gutted of any organs and sewing scissors held by her only pale, twisted hand.

Stefan shrieked as he fell to the ground, unconscious.

* * *

><p>As the shriek echoed in the distance, Gwaine turned to Leon and laughed.<p>

"Perce you bastard, you're fast. He's already got his guy on the ground…"

"So that's we have to do? Just sort of walk up to them and pretend to go with their hallucination? And then the spell just shows what they fear the most?" Leon asked, still apprehensive. Gwaine clapped him on the back and smiled.

"Yep that's all you have to do, we just need to wait until both of ours show up. Lucky Elyan already had his faint from the getgo, and now Percival is done too. Well, saving the best for last I guess," Gwaine said, puffing up his chest in mock bravado.

"Still, what if we get something like heights?" Leon said, still concerned.

"Heights? What do you mean?"

"Well.. I mean what if my _guest_.. what if he's afraid of heights, how on earth would I act that?"

"Leon, do you honestly know someone who's secretly most afraid of _being up high?_" Gwaine asked chuckling, then pausing as he looked at Leon's face. Gwaine's smile widened in horrible glee.

"Reeeeeeeally. Sir Leon the Bold, afraid of climbing up a tree," Gwaine giggled.

"Quiet, you drunk. I'm not afraid of heights, I just.. dislike them."

"Suuuuuure. Well, at least if it's heights it won't be something silly like being a woman. That would be quite hilarious to see, even if frightening. Ha! What if Perce had to pretend to be a woman!" the knight chortled at the thought.

Suddenly the sound of footsteps echoed through the forest.

"Shhhhh, Gwaine, here they come… Get ready," Leon whispered. Gwaine nodded as he and Leon crept through the forest to surprise their guests.

Watching from behind a tree as two of the hooded figures walked together, Gwaine gestured to Leon to walk to his position. Both of them were needed if Merlin's spell was to work correctly.

One of the two figures clutched at the other's robes, saying, "I'm REALLY not sure if we were supposed to go together…" The other shook his head.

"We're safer this way… two of us should be stronger than one…"

"Yea but that guy said we needed to stay apart… I can't stand this forest. It's too quiet. I can hear things.."

"How on earth can be it _quiet_, and yet you hear things? Mor-"

The man suddenly shut up as a faint _ooooooooooooo_ whispered from the trees. The pair paused.

"Ok, this has to be three-hundred steps, right? Right?"

"… I wasn't counting."

"WHAT! I assumed you were!" Gwaine and Leon watched as the two sorcerers started to get slowly more panicked. Gwaine had to shove back a snicker as he nudged Leon. As they both started to step out from behind the bush, the sorcerers turned to them in shock and one uttered a horrified gasp, while the other merely stared.

"_MORGAUSE!_" One managed to choke out inbetween his fear, pointing at Leon. Gwaine's face lit up as he realized who Leon had to pretend to be. The other sorcerer just clutched his robes in tight fists as he gaped at Gwaine.

"MORGAUSE! NO! GH-GHOSTIE..." The first one started to say, staring somewhere around Leon's midriff, his mouth open in horror. Leon stepped forward slowly toward the man as he began to back away. Gwaine was too distracted by Leon's horrible attempt at a feminine walk towards the man to concentrate on his own victim. Leon knew Gwaine would soon get his revenge for Leon trashing his flask, as the man now had prime blackmail material.

"No, NO, I won't, YOU CAN'T MORGAUSE… I DID NOTHING!" The man shrieked, then fell over onto the ground. "I JUST WANTED… THEY'RE SO SOFT.." He shrieked one last time as his eyes rolled to the back of his head, his limbs motionless. Gwaine then started towards the other in a steady walk.

When he reached the only man remaining, the man still stood gaping at Gwaine, his eyes unfathomable pools of fear. The knight continued to stare at the man, wondering when on earth what to do and why the man hadn't really responded, when he just decided to invent his own terror for the magician.

"CA-CA CAAA! CA-CA CAAAAA!" Gwaine screamed, hopping up and down as he clapped his hands in a chicken dance. Leon stared at Gwaine, too appalled at the idiocy to do anything about Gwaine messing up the plan. Leon finally snapped out of his shock when the man next to Gwaine started screaming like a stuck pig.

"FROM WHAT TWISTED HELL ARE YOU, YOU DEMON! WHAT IS THIS HORRIFIC SOUND YOU HAVE BESTOWED UPON ME! MONSTER!" The man fell over silent at the last word, his hands twitching. Gwaine turned to Leon, triumphant. Leon took a page from Arthur's book and hit him hard over the head.

Lancelot just then showed up from behind the two, the front of his armor caked in mud.

"What happened to you?" Leon asked, looking at Lancelot's attire in confusion.

"I had to pretend.. to be a mud monster.. the idiot was afraid of a _mud monster_, of all the stupid fears… And what the hell happened to you guys? I heard some demon chicken over here, don't tell me that was Gwaine again?" Lancelot asked, spitting out mud every couple of words.

"It was me, and once again my chicken imitation has proved its worth," Gwaine stated proudly, while Leon muttered something about there not being a first time it was useful. Gwaine turned away, clapping his hands and rubbing them together, smiling.

"Well I guess that just leaves Morgause… And I don't mean Leon. Let's go make the _real_ Morgause shudder in fear…"

* * *

><p>Morgause was stepping frantically through the forest as the heavy weight of the darkness pressed in around her.<p>

_Two hundred ninety-seven, Two hundred ninety-eight… _She counted in her head, as she stepped, her breathing becoming faster and faster as she reached her goal when she heard a soft, high-pitched noise.

Panic rose in her throat as she felt a vast presence suddenly appear with the shrill sound, her eyes wide as she searched for the source of the power.

"You have upset me."

The voice came from everywhere, and nowhere. The witch froze as she tried to remember her spells, _any_ _spell_… But the knowledge would not come to her.

"You have upset me."

The voice spoke again, this time coming from even closer to Morgause, though she could not place where. Frantically, Morgause tried to recite the ritual to keep the spirit away.

"Ghostie, Ghostie, stay away…"

"You have upset me."

The voice's anger was palpable. Morgause thought she would choke on her own heart. Every shadow she saw a figure, and yet she saw nothing.

"Stay away, Come to play.."

"You have upset me."

"Stay.. Away.. Stay…" Morgause tried to continue, but as if an invisible hand were clutching her throat, she could no longer continue.

"YOU HAVE UPSET ME."

The witch collapsed to the ground, her final whisper: "Mor'du."

* * *

><p>As Arthur and Merlin waited back at the ruins warmed by a conjured fire, a resounding chorus of crickets chirped around them and the one other sorcerer lying unconscious next to them. Arthur was sharpening his sword as Merlin was playing with shapes in the fire. Suddenly, Arthur's voice broke from the silence.<p>

"Say, Merlin…"

Merlin looked up questioningly towards the prince, his fire horse galloping back into the flames. Arthur paused, then continued.

"When we go back, I'm going to have a chat with my father."

"Wait, you're not going to tell him about my magic, are you?" Merlin asked, his eyes widening. Arthur shook his head.

"No, no, I won't tell him until the time is right, until magic can be truly accepted back into Camelot once more.. But I do wish to talk to him about something else. It will probably make your life a lot more difficult," Arthur said thoughtfully, the fire reflecting in his eyes as he spoke.

"What do you mean? You can't mean more chores?" Merlin said incredulously.

"Yes it'll probably turn out to be more chores, Merlin, for I intend to talk to my father about hiring you as one of my personal advisor."

Merlin was silent, his mouth gaping open stupidly as he tried to comprehend what Arthur had said.

"Eventually, I want the title to be 'Advisor of Magic', but obviously I can't get away with that yet. Of course, that means that you'll have the same privileges as the knights-" Arthur tried to continue but was cut off as Merlin suddenly hugged him. Arthur awkwardly waited a few seconds, then shoved the warlock off into a rock nearby.

"Agh! Again, injuring me _again_ on the head-"

"Must not be the first head injury you've sustained, since you're clearly addled. As my advisor, I forbid you from anymore girly hugs, else I will demote you to working in the kitchens."

"You're right, you prat, it certainly _isn't_ the first injury I've sustained to my head thanks to you…"

"Idiot, I don't have time to worry about you."

"Well good, because I'd probably just end up with even more injuries…"

"Am I interrupting something?" Gwaine said as he stepped out into the ruinous clearing, the other knights following close behind.

Arthur stood up from the fire, with Merlin following suit. He crossed his arms as he looked at the knights, smiling.

"So I take it the mission was a success?"

"Absolutely, not a single one conscious sire, and they should be out for quite a while according to Merlin's spell," Leon said, shooting Gwaine a venomous look as the knight grinned mischievously at him.

"Oh yes, both Leon and Lancelot had _loads_ of feminine fun, as well as Percival…" Leon punched him in the stomach, and Gwaine doubled over coughing. Lancelot was still trying to get mud out from his ears.

"And Morgause?" Arthur inquired.

"Well strange thing actually," Elyan said lightly, as Gwaine proceeded to happily tell Merlin about each of the sorcerers' 'nightmares', "when we found her, she was already out cold!"

"What?" asked Merlin, momentarily distracted from Gwaine's tales of ghostly cross-dressing and chickens.

"Yea, we found her, and she was just on the ground completely knocked out! Don't know what happened there…" Elyan said, his brow furrowing as he spoke.

"Well whatever happened, this was a great victory for us, and I doubt Morgause will even _think_ to come back here to finish her spell!" Arthur said triumphantly, his grin widening as his men let out a cheer.

"I'd also like to add that you idiots actually did manage to frighten not just one sorcerer, but six!" Merlin added cheerfully, a huge grin on his face. Gwaine put an arm around Merlin's shoulder and waved his flask around in the air.

"At a tavern! We must hurry to a tavern!" Gwaine yelled happily, as Leon tried to drag him off Merlin but laughing as he did so. Percival high-fived Elyan and Lancelot wrestled Arthur into a bear-hug, covering the prince in mud. Cursing Lancelot but still laughing, Arthur knew the mission was over. They had won.

"Alright men, time to march back to Camelot victorious! And who cares, let's hit the tavern on the way!" The prince shouted, with everyone cheering uproariously at the idea.

"Elyan, bet you ten pieces of silver I can make Merlin sing!" Gwaine said, as he grasped Merlin in a headlock.

"Gwaine! I don't sing, I told you that!" whined Merlin, as he fruitlessly attempted to escape from the knight's grasp.

"If you can make him sing, I'll pay you _twenty_ pieces of silver, Gwaine."

"At that price, I can make him dance. Hell, I could probably make him sorcerize the cutlery into dancing!"

"Gwaine, you will do no such thing, I don't wish to explain to my father why my servant can make magic forks dance the jig.."

"Also Gwaine, _sorcerize_ is _definitely _not a word.."

"There will be no sorcerizing of any kind."

"Arthur, don't be such a spoil sport. Merlin's gotta let his magic go free now! It's for the best!" Gwaine pulled merlin even tighter into his armhold.

With a flash of his eyes, Merlin flipped Gwaine over onto the forest floor, beautifully escaping from the knight's headlock. Percival let out a loud bout of laughter as Gwaine slowly sat up from the floor, laughing as well.

"How's that, Gwaine? That good enough 'freedom' for ya?" Merlin said impishly, unable to contain his grin. The knights laughed uproariously, with Arthur the loudest of them all.

And so the knights, a prince, and his advisor made their way through the forest to the tavern, each exchanging endless taunts and jokes until the sun rose back up.

**~THE END~**

* * *

><p><strong>AN**

OH MAN, It's done. It's all done. I can't believe it. What tiring work, with school I hardly had anytime to write, but I still had time to write, so there's no excuse for the lateness. I'm so sorry guys. It's probably not as funny as the last one, but I just had to write it. Also, once again I so appreciate the support I received. Unbelievable, you guys. I do have an idea for a completely new story, this time a very involved one, but I am not going to post it unless I have the entire thing planned out to prevent the same problem of procrastination again. This new story will be a bit more serious and dire than my comedy series, but I'll still squeeze some humor in it. If you are interested in me writing, let me know and I'll post a poll to see what others think, I want to try writing in a style more similar to George R. R. Martin's, though obviously nowhere near as well. I will also always respond to messages. Thank you guys so much once again. Season 5 Merlin is almost over!  
>Also, 10 points for people who think they can spot some references in this latest part of the story. Alright guys, I'm out. Reviews are loved as much as I love disney movies, which is a lot.<p>

VIRGIN CLOAK, AWAAAAAAAAY~


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